Life Anew
by Turianosaurus
Summary: After the war with the Reapers, everyone tries to pick up the pieces. For Garrus And Shepard, starting a new life and a family together on Earth, the new center of galactic order, or is it?. Post destroy ending. Rated M for language, violence and suggestive themes. Most characters owned by Bioware. Some OC
1. Passing Before Your Eyes

*Author's Note- Thanks for reading guys. I want to turn this into a sort of long form fanfic. I plan to update once every week or every other week due to college commitments. Reviews are greatly appreciated too! I want to know what you think and how you want the story to go.

Chapter 1

Passing Before Your Eyes

" You know I love you, I always will," Shepard said somberly. _I love you so much more than you know_ , she thought to herself as she thought back to their retirement conversation.

"Shepard, I… Love you too." said Garrus as he held on to Shepard's arm for what could possibly be the last time.

Laura moved off the ramp and locked eyes as Garrus was left with his hand outreached begging her to come back to him. She thought about how sorry she was for breaking Garrus's heart and promise she made to him the night before.

She had promised him that she would do everything she could to come back to him alive. Her thoughts were interrupted as she turned toward the loud screeches of Harbinger and saw the plates on the Reaper begin to part with a slight red glow in the main cannon.

" GO!" she yelled as the Normandy began to slowly gain altitude. As the ship ascended, Laura had restarted her run to the beam as she saw a group of Alliance soldiers disintegrate when Harbinger's beam touched the ground. The parked Mako next to the soldiers exploded in a fiery plume.

Shepard felt the blast from the explosion as it lifted her off the ground and she felt pieces of her armor shatter and fall from her torso, being ripped to shreds from the incoming shrapnel.

* * *

Garrus saw Shepard being lifted off the ground and fail to get up.

Still on the ramp with Liara supporting him, he pushed off the Asari and hit the deck.

He reached out for Laura, trying to touch her, even as the Normandy was well off the ground. As Garrus was hanging off the ramp, he yelled at the top of his lungs as the Normandy moved higher and higher.

Liara had to remove her translator as Garrus' yell had amplified into a loud dual tone bird call for Shepard. He finally moved back when the ramp had started to shut and continually punched the metal floor of the cargo bay as it shut for good, not caring as he broke his talons on the metal.

" Garrus we need to go to the med-bay! Look at yourself!" shouted Liara as she attempted to get him up as his armor had been turned black and had more than a few parts turn into a molten gold color. Burning flesh could be smelt as the armor started fusing with his hide and plates.

" Garrus, NOW!" Liara repeated. He still hadn't moved so she called over James as he came running off the elevator.

As they both lifted Garrus' arms over their shoulders and moved him into the elevator James asked, "Where's Lola?"

"Where do you think?" Liara yelled as she shot a glare at James.

As they stumbled into the med-bay Dr. Chakwas was already at the ready to help." Get him on a bed, and remove the armor, quickly!" she shouted as they entered the door.

Garrus was still thinking about Laura holding his mandible and kissing him on his plates as if she knew it was the last time she would see him again. He thought back to when they first met and when they first made their feelings known to each other before going through the Omega-4 Relay. _I'm going to die_ , he thought as even he knew when your life passes before your eyes, you know your time is up. His thoughts were interrupted by the pain of his burnt skin not covered by the natural plates Turians had meeting air as James and Liara undid every clamp and took off his armor piece by piece.

"This is worse than I thought, prepare a dose of dextro-anesthesia drugs and get all the medi-gel in that container James," said Chakwas. She placed herself over Garrus in the bed.

" Laura?" Garrus weakly asked as he looked up at the doctor.

Shepard leaned down over Garrus's face and lightly touched her forehead to his.

" Garrus, I'll love you forever, but you need to let go. Please, I beg of you. Live your life." She lifted a hand to gently rub a mandible. The warm touch of her hand reassuring him.

He reached out to caress her face between his talons. " No, Laura. I want you and only you. There's no Shepard without Vakarian."

Garrus reached up to caress Chakwas face, with the doctor not pulling back. " He's hallucinating. We need to get him under now." She said as she reached over to increase his anesthesia medicine dosage.

Garrus couldn't feel the pain anymore as he stared at the white ceiling and let out a faint call for Laura before he felt the arms of sleep grab him.

* * *

Laura moved closer to the cylinder and held the pistol with all of her strength and started to shoot. She heard the shots ring out one at a time and immediately had recollections of her life as she thought to herself, _This is it, I'm gonna meet my maker_.

She thought of all the times her and Garrus had together and how the past year with Garrus has been the happiest time of her life.

"I love you, Garrus," Laura said as she limped closer to the cylinder and felt the warmth of the heat when it had blown up.

Shepard hit the deck and felt for her transponder, the last thing she grabbed from her locker before the mission. _Am I glad I got you_ , she thought as she pressed the start button and heard a faint beep as she started to fall asleep.

* * *

Joker looked at the console and saw a faint signal originating from inside the Citadel. " Holy shit, it may be the Commander. EDI, plot a course for search and rescue on that beacon," Jeff yelled.

" Done, but Admiral Hackett has ordered a full evacuation through the relay," said EDI.

" Well fuck Hackett, I'm not going to be the one to leave the Commander to die," Joker replied.

" I had hoped you would say that, initiating search and rescue protocols."

* * *

Garrus had felt like he was waking up, but was met only by the white tiles and blinding light from the ceiling. It felt like the med-bay, but he was more convinced he was dead waiting in what Shepard had once described to him as Purgatory, the mid-way point between life and the afterlife.

 _Meet me at the bar_ , he thought to himself. It's what he told her to do if the mission went sideways and they ended up killed.

" Garrus, I'm surprised you're awake after all you've been through."

Garrus turned to see the mysterious voice to only be Dr. Chakwas getting up from her desk." This is a dream, we should be dead after London, TELL ME I'M DEAD!" Garrus yelled as he tried to get up only to be put back down by the severe pain all over his body.

"You're not dead Garrus."

"Bullshit," he said as he started to whine through his sub-harmonics, mimicking an action humans call crying.

"And neither is Shepard."

 _No, there is no way. I'm dead. There is no way both of us survived_ , he thought just as he fell back to sleep as he saw Chakwas put him to sleep again.


	2. Back Amongst the Living

_*Author's notes- Again, thanks for reading guys. If you have any ideas you want to be incorporated I would love to hear them. I want to make it up to you, the reader for reading my work. As always, any reviews are appreciated. Good or bad, I want to know what you think._

Chapter 2

Back Amongst the Living

" _There's no Shepard without Vakarian," Shepard softly mutters as she reaches up on her toes to reach Garrus's face, caressing his mandible. She swayed back down on her heels and massaged his neck, under his fringe. She stopped, and turned around to start walking away. Garrus stared as he tried to figure out why she would just leave like that. He watched the sway of her hips in the new armor he had gotten her as a gift right before the final fight to end the Reapers._

 _' Where the hell are you going?' he thinks as he reaches out with his talons and tries to claw her back into his arms._

" _Laura, no. Come back. I need you," he begs as his harmonics hummed in a franticly worrying state. Harbinger suddenly lands with a loud crash in the background of his view of Laura. As Laura walks toward the Reaper it makes the loud screech associated with a Reaper charging up it's main weapon, ready to obliterate anything in it's path._

 _Garrus screamed over the fact that she kept walking towards the Reaper._

' _What the hell are you thinking!' ran through his head as he tried to make up the large distance with his arm. He couldn't move his feet and was only able to try to stretch his arms to close the large gap. At that point, Harbinger released its beam and hit Shepard head on. " No!" the Turian yelled as Shepard disappeared in the laser. He shut his eyes tight as he was stuck in his pose with his outstretched arm._

* * *

Garrus opened his eyes to find himself sitting up with his arm outstretched looking for Shepard to come running to him. He looked around to find the room looked drastically different from the medical suite of the Normandy. He began to look around and saw that the room was empty. _With the amount of noise I made, it probably won't stay that way_ , he grumbled to himself. On cue, both Tali and Liara came in, no doubt to check on the noise being made in the room. " By the Goddess, Garrus you're up. This will be a relief, especially to Shepard when she wakes from her coma," said Liara.

" So it's true that Shepard is alive?" Garrus muttered staring Liara right in the face trying to see if she ways playing a cruel joke on him even though he knew she wouldn't dare try such a thing.

" Yes, you both were flown from the Normandy to San Diego as the _Normandy_ doesn't have the proper facilities to help either of you." said Liara as she stared out the glass of the room towards another room across the hall.

" She's there?" he asked motioning to the room Liara looked at. At this point Garrus let his mandibles spread out as he has been clenching them together in anticipation for his worst fear to become a reality.

" Yes, but you are in no way ready to see her," Liara replied.

Before Liara finished, he strained himself to get out of the hard bed. " Try me," he responded as he got up.

Garrus completely forgot that Tali was even in the room. _Probably still uncomfortable when she wanted to hook up at the party on the Citadel,_ Garrus thought as he attempted to get out of the bed. It took every ounce of his strength to get up and would've fallen over if Liara hadn't held him up.

" Look, you can see her, but you need to come back here for treatment shortly," Liara stated.

" No, I'm fine. I'll move into her room, I don't care what the doctors think," Garrus groaned as he slowly walked across the hallway with Liara's help.

He opened the door but wasn't prepared for what he saw. Laura had what were assumed to be burns covered by sterile white bandages all over her body and was breathing from a tube down her throat.

" She's had all of her surgeries, so it's a question of when she'll wake up and her recovery," Liara said as she saw the shock on Garrus' face. His mandibles clenched closer together and his plates became tight against his chest. He felt as he was about to faint himself.

" Can they get a Turian-style cot?" he asked, then turned and walked up to Shepard's bed. " I'm not leaving her."

" I'll see what I can do," Liara replied as she left the room.

As the metallic ping of the door sounded to signal Liara was gone, Garrus had taken the stiff chair obviously designed for a human next to her bed and sat down. He took his hand and ran it through Shepard's dark hair, releasing the knots that have accrued from laying in the bed for Spirits knows how long.

He lifted his head to hers and joined them at the forehead like they always did in her quarters. The Turian equivalent of a human kiss.

She was surprised when she first was taught about it from Garrus, but was quick to do it as she said that she could see how without malleable lips it could be intimate.

He shut his eyes when he connected his forehead to her's and whispered what she had told her before the final push for the beam on Earth. " There's no Shepard without Vakarian."

Garrus then set his head on Shepard's thighs trying to make it as comfortable for her with his oddly shaped head and mandibles as he tried to get some sleep while making contact with the mate he has chosen, even if she knew it or not.

He shut his eyes and started to dream again as he let out a soft purr that vibrated through Shepard's body as if they were one.

* * *

Garrus had gained back most, if not all mobility that he had lost over the last 3 weeks in the hospital. As he stretched out to get used to the soreness of moving around in ways he couldn't have sitting in a bed or chair, he felt the slight chirp of his omni-tool go off from an incoming vid-call.

He looked at it as his mandibles fluttered at the caller. It was his father. He last heard from him when he said that Solana and himself had made it off Palaven. He promptly pressed the accept button, thrilled that his father had made it through the war.

" Garrus? Son, you there?" said the Turian that was glowing on the screen. If you had put them next to each other you could barely tell the difference besides the plethora of scars Garrus had collected.

" Yea, Dad I'm here. Are you and Sol safe?"

"We're fine son, the Turian Fleet is staging camps on Earth. I finally got it out of one of the humans that we're in a place called Nevada. It was the only place that would have been good for us, climate-wise that is. From what I gather it's not all that far from you." The elder disappeared off screen as Garrus could hear him ordering around others.

" Camps? Why? You can't leave the Sol System?" Garrus questioned.

His father refocused again on the call. " No, the mass relays have been damaged from the blast of the Crucible. So we're just biding our time waiting for them to be repaired, and hopefully it's soon. The ships were outfitted with rations for crews only, not the entire civilian population of Palaven."

" Spirits…" Garrus replied putting a clawed hand to his forehead, running his talons over his fringe. As he looked up to see Shepard moving as she looked like she had come out of comatose. Garrus promptly spoke " Hey Dad, I gotta go. Tell Sol to call and I'll talk to you later tonight."

" But, son…"

Garrus didn't let his father finish by closing the omni-tool call as he hadn't told him about Shepard and his relationship, and he didn't want him to find out through him sitting with her while she woke from a coma.

" Hey, take it easy. You've been out a long time, ohhhh…." he grunted as Shepard quickly sat up and hugged him.

" I thought I lost you," she started to sob.

" You can never lose me, ask Sidonis and Dr. Saleon," he chuckled. " Owww, what was that for."

Shepard retracted her fist from where she punched him in his shoulder. " We almost died and you're over here cracking jokes," she angrily lauded.

" Ughh sorry, just trying to lighten the mood. Are you hungry?" Garrus asked as a doctor came in to check her to make sure all of her vitals were in a normal range.

" Yea, a hospital has gotta have a cafeteria. I don't care what you get me."

* * *

Garrus walked down the hall with the small sandwich on a flimsy paper plate. He had asked for any levo food as he wasn't entirely sure what Shepard ate. He was promptly handed the plate and this small thing that his talons could easily fit around. _Well there's always when we get her out of here, I'll take her to anywhere she wants_ , he thinks as he walks done the white hallways.

He walked through the door and saw that she was highly excited for the flimsy pieces of bread.

" Peanut butter and jelly! My favorite!" she yelped as he set the plate down on the table.

" I did good, huh?"

" You did great," she replies as she finished the first bite giving him a slight nod.


	3. A Look Back

_*Author's Notes- This chapter is more looking back based than looking forward until the end. Kaidan is mentioned and please don't destroy me if you think I hate him because I don't, but I don't like how much he seems to whine for a top notch Alliance Soldier. As always write those reviews and let me know what you think!_

Chapter 3

A Look Back

" Garrus, I'm glad you're here. You're the only one who HAS been here," Laura scoffs with irritation.

" Well, everyone in the crew wanted to give us space Laura," Garrus replies as he gets up from the cot that the hospital staff had brought in a few days ago. The fact that they not only bought him a cot, but a Turian egg shaped one made with heavy fabric is a surprise to her.

 _They must've brought his cot that he stowed away in the battery after I had him sleep with me in my quarters,_ she remembers.

With that she comes to the realization that she _should_ have known that. Now that she thinks about it, she doesn't remember anything that happened that day. The last thing she remembers is the night before.

With stress getting to her she had taken Garrus up to her cabin to relieve stress. With the weight of the galaxy on her shoulders and the Primarch whispering in Garrus' ears for the entire duration of of the mission, they both needed it. She had seen Garrus' temper fray and needed him at his best. If that meant him unleashing his Turian instincts on her, so be it. It also helped her take her mind off the fact that the weight of the world was on her shoulders.

With remembering this she smiles. It was one of the only times she was truly happy in the last few years. She had spent her time with someone who truly had understood her, who would let her break down in front of them and comfort her.

Back on the first mission as a Spectre to take down Saren, she had relations with Kaidan. She felt empty. She had wanted someone who would help her instead of look at her like a mountain to climb, a feather in their cap. She had gotten that vibe from Kaidan on the mission and was surprised to find that his feelings were hurt on Horizon. That he had more feelings for her.

She was so taken aback on how he had changed his feelings, how he could make her feel like shit for something that was out of her control.

He had claimed that the two years were hell for him, that he saw no way to continue living as he had felt for her.

His emotions paired with her hard personality that she wouldn't let anyone hold her hostage like that when his emotions could've fooled her on the SR-1.

When she had let him have it over how she had felt there was no going back. Any sort of relationship she had left with Kaidan was over, and it showed in the race to unify all organic life for the battle over Earth. He had been short with her and continued to accuse her of working with Cerberus, thinking that she was a traitor. This was to the point that she had refused to allow him on the Normandy when he had recovered from his bought with Dr. Eva's body. The ship was no place for personal issues to get in the way of saving the Galaxy, and she didn't have faith in his ability to be professional, Spectre or not, after his breakdown on Horizon.

Garrus had been with her every step of the way and she is thankful. Even when they weren't dating he was the only one she could talk to. It probably was because she had done the same for him at first, but they grew on each other. For everything they were taught and thought about Turians, Garrus acted like a human. His emotions were nothing like the stereotypes had made Turians out to be. He wasn't rigid, hiding his emotions for the sake of acting like a Turian outside of acted more Human than any of the people on her ship.

His hatred of red tape, and C-SEC had shown her that he wasn't anything close to a normal Turian. When he had opened up to her on how he was in pain both physically and mentally over his time on Omega, she was surprised. A Turian whose entire race is known for machismo opens up to someone, much less a Human, over how he feels, you must be a trusted person or unconventional. With her being Human she liked to think he was both, and was confirmed when he opened up on his sexual exploits.

It was something that Humans did only in the confidence of their most trusted friends. She didn't know if Turians spoke of it in the same company, but it made her feel trusted, and above all, wanted.

When she had merely suggested them spending the night together to gauge his reaction, she hadn't expected him to be so open to the idea even when they had no idea how to do it. It had made an awkward night, but they openly told each other that it was the best thing that had happened to them in a long time as it was the first thing that had gone how they intended. No criminal being let loose, team being killed, or being shot at. Just them spending time together.

A year ago if you told her she would be dating a Turian she would straight up kill you. Even now it seems unreal, but she's glad that it had worked out this way. She is with someone who truly loves her for her and the same with her. If they didn't they had no reason to deal with the ridicule they get from both races.

At one point while trying to gain support for the Human fleets the Terra Firma Party had created a full campaign to denounce her based on her relationship choice. Gars hadn't had to deal with a open denunciation from anyone of power in the Hierarchy, but overtime they went out on shore leave they would get scowls from Turians in their direction. The fact that they both had no problem with the public disagreement made her feel better that they would put the time in their relationship not caring about the public response.

" Hey, you okay?" Shepard hears as her train of thought is interrupted.

She sees Garrus looking at her with a worried expression of his mandibles. She has trouble containing her embarrassment and blushes while replying " Yea, sorry."

As she starred at him he had started to get a weird feeling. His chest had started to heat up and he was getting dizzy. He had started getting these fits of sickness before they had left for Earth but hadn't told Laura about them as he knew they wouldn't be a problem in combat. In their relationship is another issue entirely…


	4. Where do we Stand?

_Author's Notes-_

Chapter 4

Where do we Stand?

" Laura, I'll be right back," Garrus says as he leaves to get up. He has been doing it multiple times for the past few days.

At some points she was glad as he had actually left when her doctor had come in and had told her over her possible memory loss. She had not told Garrus as he had already worried enough about her. She didn't need him concerned over her memory loss of one day. Especially one day that is shown over and over again in the form of news stories with her as the focal point when she turns on the vid screen.

Shepard smiles at Garrus leaving in silent acknowledgment. _If you were Human, We'd all think you have a bladder issue_. This wasn't the first time he has done it today, which starts to make Shepard really concerned.

He leaves and instead of going to the bathroom, he sits outside the room leaning on the glass of her room with his omni-tool open. Staring at him may be a little weird and unnerving, but after how close they've become she doesn't care. _If only,_ she ponders as she thinks back on her times with her most loyal teammate. All the way back to the fight with Saren he has been her most trusted partner, even more than anyone who was wearing Alliance colors.

As she stares at him leaning on the glass she has a flashback from before the final push to the beam in London where Garrus was talking with her. It was something from the day of the battle, something that was forgotten.

 _Garrus leans on the ruble of the building as he says " We're going to retire somewhere warm and tropical, and live off the royalties from the vids. Maybe even find out what a Turian - Human baby looks like." With this, he pushes off the wall and grabs her waist and pushes her closer as she wraps her arms around him and massages under his fringe…_

She snaps out of the flashback and is kicking herself now over how she had forgotten. When she had waken up, the doctor had told her that there was going to be some memory loss after being knocked comatose. This paired with the stresses of battle had led her to have memory loss that would take time to heal. The doctor had said that she could have lost some of her memory from the battle.

 _Of course, he's been here the entire time. He wants a future for both of us, together._ This puts her at ease knowing that he had felt that way. Maybe she didn't know because she doesn't know Turian bonding. At this she pulls up her omni-tool and does a quick search on Turian male bonding.

* * *

Garrus takes a peak to see Laura staring at him with a tilted head, in thought. He feels she's starting to think he has an issue with him going to the bathroom so many times. _If only she knew how difficult it was for me to use a Human toilet. I wouldn't want to deal with that every time I "go to the bathroom,"_ Garrus thinks to himself. If only she knew that most times he had left her to use the washroom he was actually hiding out of sight of her, looking up Human customs on his omni-tool. He doesn't want her to see what he is looking up on his omni-tool. Even though she can't read Turian script it's a habit and he would rather be safe than sorry.

He had searched for Human bonding rituals as he thought it may be good to know as after everything they had been through, Garrus had fallen into the Turian bonding phase of _Amans_ , a phase Turian males go through where they are emotionally bonded and ask to eternally bond with their female counterpart. While it isn't unheard of to be rejected, it has no effect on the male's attachment to the one he is in Amans with, and if so, it isn't uncommon to find males in Amans with two females after one has rejected his advances.

He had to search up everything he could on what Humans do as an act of bonding as he sure didn't know how Laura felt on actually bonding with a Turian, not just sleeping with one. One thing was for sure for Garrus, he was going to try everything in his power to get Laura to accept.

As Garrus leans on the glass staring at the screen flowing with picture of what Humans do. One of the man on his knee holding out a weird band to the woman's hand, another of the couple bring mobbed by a large group. Garrus didn't recognize the weird all-white dress the woman was wearing, but recognized the male's outfit as some Human colleagues at C-SEC have worn something similar at formal events. He sighs as he closes the omni-tool to head back into her room. He knows he is going to have to ask her at some point as he was already connected to her.

* * *

Shepard takes her eyes off the omni-tool as she hears the swish of the door opening to look at who had walked in. Undoubtedly Garrus, who had left the room for 10 minutes, but stood in front of the glass looking into her room while he was on his omni-tool, undoubtedly doing research like her.

Garrus sees that she has her tool open and is able to see the Human script running across the holographic screen. He doesn't know many words in her written language but can see one that he immediately recognizes.

 _Amans_

 _Oh no. She knows._ His mandibles splay wide in an embarrassed expression as he stands there staring at her in bed. _What do I do?_ He immediately thinks as his plates start shaking, something that his kind only do when they are cold. If he stays here any longer she'll hear his plates clattering together and make it worse.

She doesn't close her tool as he stares at her. _What are you staring at me for?_ She thinks as she looks up seeing his mandibles splayed wide in surprise.

" Ugh, I need to go to the bathroom," he stutters as he walks out again for the third time today.

 _What the hell is his issue?_ She thinks as she looks down and sees that her omni-tool is open. _It's not like he can read English_. At this thought she blushes. Of course he can't read but he can pick out words that mean something to his race. He told her that he had to at least pick up some written words from Human English. As she starts to read on she sees a word, Amans, that sounds vaguely Latin, the language Humanity uses to relate to the Turian language and names.

She had taken linguistics in her N training and had picked up some Portuguese in her time in Rio. It vaguely resembled amar, a variation of the word love used in many Latin based languages.

As she does more research, she thinks this is the word that Garrus recognizes as he is able to pick out words when she writes in Portuguese. The more Shepard reads, the more she understands Garrus' possible embarrassment.

 _God, I'm so stupid for not realizing his feelings and mating practices. They don't cover this in Xenobiology in N training,_ is her thought as she closes her tool waiting for him to return. _If only I had known Garrus, we could have saved you the embarrassment_.

* * *

As Garrus walks into the Human washroom he heads immediately to the sinks. After watching Laura and other Human crew members do it he decided to take up washing his face, well his face plates in an attempt to cool down the heat under his plates from the embarrassment of walking in on her searching up his races' mating practices. Something like this shouldn't be embarrassing to him as they both are _fucking_ each other, but just the fact that she may already know what he's going through before he tells her is just embarrassing to him.

He looks up at himself in the mirror, just finally noticing the toll that his adventures with Laura had taken on his body. It had been more than two years since he had taken a good look at himself in a mirror. At this point, Garrus had lost most of his features that had made him attractive as a Turian.

The right side of his face was deeply scarred from taking a rocket to the face when Laura had shown up to save him from the bowels of that shithole Omega. His colony paint was faded and nearly gone where he was scarred. His plates had grown a few shades darker than the silver gray he was when Laura first met him. Usually when you get older, your plates naturally darken, but at the age of 30 there was nothing natural about it. The high stress of his repeated suicide missions with her had truly taken it's toll on him both physically and mentally. The only attractive feature he had left are his blue eyes which Laura has repeatedly says looks like an the oceans of Earth from space.

 _After all this she's still here for me_ , he thinks as his plates relax and he starts to cool down from his previous embarrassment. _Well, she had to find out someday_ , is his last thought as he leaves to go back to Laura, his _Amor Primus_ , and explain his absence and what she probably knows by now.


	5. In Our Memory

_*Author's Note- Hey guys, I only want to see what you guys think about me starting another long form. It is going to be a prequel of sorts to Mass Effect Andromeda. Obviously, we don't know where the universe actually will lead, but that's the fun! As always, review, favorite, and follow if you enjoyed!_

Chapter 5

In Our Memory

Shepard was getting antsy and was pacing around the room slowly. It was painful for her to be up and walking around when she had just woken up a week ago, but her mobility isn't the most important thing on her mind.

What was taking priority over her pain is the state of Garrus. He had run out of her room after he had walked in on her looking up Turian bonding. She had her suspicions after she had remembered her conversation before the final push to the beam. She had started to remember everything. The sound of his voice, every touch, and even the feeling of his mouth plates against her lips had been remembered.

She always had feelings for him and may have even thought of him as more in those moments before the push, but she can't remember. In due time she will remember and she will make things right with Garrus. He had always hated people going behind his back even when he routinely did it in his work, but this was something different. This was the woman he loved not trusting him to tell her himself about the way he felt.

Both of them had not trusted each other, be it his current condition or her memory loss. Both of them had to clear the air and get what they needed said to be told for the sake of their relationship.

In this moment, waiting for Garrus to come back has been the most nervous time of her life, even more than facing Reapers, Collectors, or Saren. The big, bad Commander Shepard was taken down not by a Reaper, but her decisions on her relationship.

 _Well, I get what I deserve_ , she thinks as she paces around her room staring at the door to the hallway.

* * *

Garrus turns the last corner and is staring down the last hallway that leads to Laura's room. Every step he takes returns the sound of his boots giving a clank of the metal floor meeting his metal combat boots. Every step he took was making him more dizzy and hot. He was still comfortable with the heat as he felt like her was back on Palaven with the effects of Amans countering the cooler temperature of Earth. He feels his heart is about to beat of of his chest as he stops in front of the door as his hands are fighting against his will to reach up and press the holographic open button.

He takes a deep breath and lets his face plates relax as he hears the hiss of the door starting to part and tries to keep a straight face as he walks through the door to see her standing next to the bed staring at him as he walks through the door.

They both remain silent as they wait for the door to complete it's cycle and shut so they don't have anyone listen in through an open door.

" I'm sorry," is the first thing she says when the door closes. He's surprised as Laura is the most stubborn person he's ever met. Apologies aren't the sort of thing she would say.

"Me too," he responds with a sigh, " But why are you sorry?" he says with a surprised splay of his mandibles.

" I have suffered from memory loss."

With her reply he was really shocked.

She had been acting normally as they would have on the Normandy in their fight against the Reapers. She must not have had huge memory loss if she still remembered that they were in a relationship and she said nothing over his continued coddling of her in the hospital. _It must not be that bad if she is ok with it_ , he thinks as his mandibles flutter in thought like they so often do when he sits over the console in the main gun battery on the Normandy.

" I don't remember the day of the battle."

 _Well that's fine, it's not a bad as I thought_. As he finishes his thought he remembers that a majority of their conversations about life after had occurred hat day. _She doesn't remember our conversations_.

With that Garrus feels even sicker about what he is about to tell her. _What if she disagrees? What if she doesn't want to anymore?_ he thinks as he lets out a sigh to get ready to speak.

 _O my God, how bad is he going to feel about this?_ is her thought as she stares at his face with his mandibles fluttering in thought, something she has seem him do plenty of time when he looks at her.

" I'm hurt that you had to keep this from me, but I'm just glad it is only for a day. I was worried that you had completely forgotten our time together and were afraid to say anything over how protective I am.

" Even if I was afraid I wouldn't turn it down. You have been perhaps the nicest person to me I can remember. Who would turn down being pampered by a Turan?" she questions as she walks up to him and puts her hand to the scarred side of his face, running her fingers over his mandible.

He shuts his eyes and purrs as it brings him back to her touch when they were on the Normandy. How she would run her hands over his face, giving both sides equal treatment as if there was nothing wrong with him.

" So what did you have to tell me?"

His eyes open wide and the same feeling of dread runs through his body as he is brought back to reality. _She really knew how to take away all of the stress and emotions I was feeling_.

" Well, I'm…," he stutters as he tries to form what he wants to say, how he should tell her this without him possibly losing her. " I ugh, I've gone into Amans."

" And what is Amans?" she asks. _I want to give him every chance to tell me himself_ , _for his own sake._

" Well it's a Turian male mating process. Ugh, I don't know if Humans have something equivalent, but basically we feel connected to someone for life. It usually ends up being bonded, but that's up to the female's discretion."

" So basically falling in love?"

" Kinda, but from what I gather, it's a lot stronger than love," he says as he uncomfortably shifts his weight to his other leg, " The male is bound to the female for life, even if she rejects. So, they basically remain friends for life. It is a biological process for us after all."

" How long have you been in Amans?" she asks as she moves her hands to the back of his head and massages under his fringe as he lets out a soft purr that vibrates through his chest to her as she moves plush to his chest plates so she can reach his hide behind his head. He looks down as she continues to scratch.

" Since I had seen you again on Menae. I always had feelings, but when I had seen you again I couldn't change how I felt. You had been brought back to me. It may have been fate, the Spirits, or luck, but I felt that I would never let you go. Like I said the first night we spent together, too many things have gone bad for me, I need to try to make this right. That is, if you'll have me. " With that he gets on his knee like the vids show.

" You know you need a ring, right?" she questions with a smirk on her face, mostly to be her smart ass self.

With this he sighs and gets up looking around the room. He takes a small piece of tubing and tries to tie it into a ring as much as he can with his three fingered hands. He restarts and holds out the makeshift ring-like tube as he had watched in the vid he had watched while in the toilet a day ago. " By the Spirits, will you marry me and be my bondmate?" he nervously hums as he looks up and tightens his mandibles.

As she reaches down to his face to caress the scarred side of his face as she starts to shed tears, " Of course I will. There is no one else there to hold me up to help fight the Reapers. There is no one else who I would rather be married or bonded to in my entire life." She knows that every word that she speaks is true. No one had been there for her through everything. Liara and Tali were with her through everything, but it just wasn't the same. They weren't the people she could vent to after she had to make a huge decision that affected the entire galaxy. The only one she felt had gotten what she would vent about is Garrus as he had dealt with similar situations, not in the terms of consequences, but in terms of ethical decisions. Like he said, " The ruthless calculus of war," and deciding who should live or die had taken it's toll on her and the one who was always there was Garrus.


	6. No Shepard Without Vakarian

_Author's Notes - Guys I love you. So please, I am here on my knees before you begging, please follow, favorite, and most importantly review. I must know how I am doing in your eyes as writing stories isn't exactly a strong suit, even anonymous reviews are fine. Just tell me what you think. That is all:)_

Chapter 6

No Shepard Without Vakarian

As Shepard looks in the mirror in the bathroom, she buttons up the shirt of her dark blue and gold Alliance uniform. Her long jet black hair flows over the collar of her uniform as she collects it to put into a bun to fit dress regulations. Her light blue eyes penetrate the eyes of her reflection and peer right into her soul, as the saying goes. She looks at the slight scar that runs across her jaw, still not healed from the procedures to help heal the damage that she hadn't remembered at all. A slight knock on the door breaks her concentration on herself.

A slight Turian hum penetrates the door, " Are you ready?"

She puts the makeshift tube ring that Garrus had made her on-the-fly as he doesn't and she doesn't expect him to know everything about Human marriage customs, but he did promise to replace the ring with something more adequate when they get out of the hospital. As she opens the door she surprises Garrus as he's about to rap his hand on the door again.

" Are all Humans this slow when they get ready, or is it just you?" he jokes as he moves closer and nuzzles under Shepard's chin as he so often does. " We need to get out. I promised you I would get you an actual ring," he says as he holds her hand with the tube ring up with their fingers intertwined together.

She moves her free hand to the back of his head and massages his hide as she responds, " It's all of us to answer your question, and lets go, I want go get this ring shopping out of the way and find _something else_ for us to do."

—

" God damn it's hot," Shepard says as she tries to adjust her uniform as she exits the safety of the rented skycar into the heat of the San Diego sun. Gars follows and huffs at her comment on the weather.

 _It's cool here. If you thinks it's hot here, just wait until you get to Palavan,_ he thinks as he exits the car.

They walk the short distance in the war-torn downtown to a small open air market that had decided to reopen. Probably to service the many Alliance personnel who work to get the city back up and running, or the remaining aliens that had decided to not relocate with the rest of their races as the mass relays were being repaired.

As they walked up to the market Shepard had stopped and look at the broken glass of one of the giant skyscrapers of the city that had not been destroyed from the Reaper invasion. She walked up to the building slowly, noticing the dirt and grime that had stuck to the glass, making it hard to see herself or inside the building. She lifted her hand and ran it across the smooth glass to remove the grime to be able to look at her face. As her eyes adjusted to the sunlight she was able to fully see herself in the glass.

She looks at her face, staring deep into the light blue eyes that looked back, finally noticing the small scar on her jaw, undoubtedly from the final push that she didn't remember.

As she tried to gain a better look at the scar, she started to get a flashback.

* * *

 _As the Normandy lifted off she turned around and started to sprint toward the beam in the middle of London. She looks up to see Harbinger's beam aim directly in her direction. "Oh, for fucks sakes," she yells as she sprints toward the beam. The noise of the beam being released breaks her concentration from the beam to Harbinger's attack._

 _She instantly felt intense heat from the charged beam of Harbinger coming to meet her. She had shut her eyes and thought about Garrus and how she was sorry for the hurt she was about to cause him. She was ready for the sizzling heat that had started to make her shields pop and crackle because of the energy overload._

 _As she steeled herself for the beam to hit her, she was pushed back by an overwhelming force, making the beam narrowly miss her and disintegrating where she was standing._

 _She felt warm liquid covering her face and reached up to find a piece of shrapnel had pierced her jaw and was the source of her bleeding. As she was laying down she had looked over to the area she was a minute ago to see a smoldering Mako, the source of the shrapnel._

 _At that point she was starting to lose consciousness. Her vision had started to get blurry and as she closed her eyes she whispers as she watches the Normandy lift off, "Garrus."_

* * *

As she came to in front of the building she looked past herself and saw Garrus leaning on a car staring at her back. She let out a slight smile that she was sure that the Turian couldn't see in the glass. She turns around quickly to walk back to the tall, uncomfortable Turian among the sea of Alliance personnel. He dismounts the side of the car and calls out, " What's so funny? Never seen a Turian in a sea of Humans?"

" No, but I've been the Human in a sea of Turians before. Let's get going."

Garrus rumbles in approval and follows her lead as he can't read any of the signs without his visor. The visor had been destroyed in the final push and he hadn't noticed until Laura had pointed it out. _You'd think after wearing it for so long you'd feel naked without it, but when the one you love is in trouble, you don't care about anything else,_ he thinks as he easily keeps up with Laura who stops at every storefront she sees.

She finally stops in front of a store and as she walks in, motions for Garrus to follow her in. As he lifts up his omni-tool to access the camera to translate the stores name. _Spirits, how have I ever survived without the visor,_ he groans as he waits for the translation suite to run on the picture.

 **Saronis Applications**

Of course she would think of solving his visor issue before even thinking of getting a ring like a normal marriage would have in Human customs.

As he walked in she was already talking to the man behind the counter about software upgrades and getting a discount. _O Spirits, just like on the Citadel_ , he muses as he shakes his head on approach.

"… I actually want to enquire about getting a visor with a targeting and omni-tool suites custom made and fitted for him," she motions to Garrus as he walks up to the counter.

The human slowly looks up to his face and lets out a small smile, " Sure, just let me take measurements and I can actually have it made in a few minutes. I still have a lot of stock so there's little wait for parts as no one really is in the market for software upgrades," he says as he motions to a chair for Garrus to get his measurements. " You're the first Turian I've ever made one of these for. Do you want anything special on your visor?"

Gars doesn't have to think hard about what he would want to customize the visor. " Yes, An engraving in Human English and Turian Script."

" That I can do, if you provide the Turian Script that is."

As the owner finishes the measurements and inputs them into the printer, Shepard is waiting at the door, pacing as she looks at her omni-tool. " What did you want engraved?" he asks as he pulls out his omni-tool.

" There's no Shepard without Vakarian," Garrus says as he holds out his omni-tool for the owner to copy from the Turian Script displayed on the screen. When he's done Garrus heads over to Shepard engrossed in her tool as he approaches. " What's wrong?"

" Nothing, just reading through the reports Hackett sent me. Loss reports, resettlement, stuff like that." She moves to the side and looks into the store, " Is it done?"

" Yea, he's just adding engravings to it, and before you ask I will not tell you yet," he says as he swivels around to head to the counter as he sees the owner move to the counter with the new visor.

" Try it on and power it up to see if it's good."

Gars carefully fits the visor on his head, which was still hot from the printing of the harness. He moves one clawed talon to the back and presses the power toggle. Half of his vision turns to the blue hue of the Vakarian clan colors. Human and Turian text scrolls over the visor as all the systems turn on.

 _System Diagnostics engaged. Welcome Garrus_Vakarian. Omni-tool link engaged. Weapon Link engaged. Language suite engaged._

The visor had a narrator unlike his old one. _A very familiar narrator,_ he chuckles as the voice of Laura fills his ear in filing reports on the visor.

" So how much for it," Garrus asks as me pulls out his credit chit from the breast pocket of his civvies.

" Free. I know who you two are and I'm sure after all you've been through you don't want to be seen as heroes, only normal soldiers. So, you won't see me making a fuss over who you guys are, but let me at least pay you back in some way for fighting for us."

Garrus slowly puts away his chit and collects the box for in and motions in silent thanks to the owner which he returns as Garrus leaves the counter.

As Garrus approaches the door he lets out a slight rumbling to Shepard, still engrossed in her tool, " Ready to go?"

" Yea," she replies as she looks up to see him with the visor on. She reaches up to cup the right side of his face, " What's the engraving?" she asks as she tries to squint to see the small characters on the side of the visor.

" No Shepard without Vakarian," he whispers as he leans down to nuzzle her neck as they head out hand in hand.


	7. Blue of Palaven

_AN- Well, we broke 1000 views! I never thought it would get this far with it being my first fanfic. Again, thank you to those of you who read this fic and ya know, comment, review, favorite, and follow!_

Chapter 7

Blue of Palaven

They walked into a run down jewelry store that obviously had seen better days before the invasion. Through all the destruction the owner was able to save at least a case of jewelry he proudly had displayed and stands over, smiling as the couple walk in hand in hand. " Hi! What can I get ya? Sorry about the limited selection," he says quickly. Shepard can tell that the man is going to be unpleasantly annoying, _but at least he isn't scoffing at us in a relationship_.

" Hi, we're looking for engagement rings. If you have any, we would like to look at them." When she said engagement rings his smile had evaporated from his face and turned slightly hostile as if he was completely oblivious of their relationship when they walked in.

 _We were holding hands for god sakes_ , Shepard scoffs to herself as her smile turns to a hostile stare over the man's quick change in hospitality. With that he slightly shifts and slightly changes his expression. _Damn right asshole, it's not as if you're getting any other customers at this time_.

Garrus wasn't completely oblivious to the human's hostility but had grown used to it from the beginning of his time on the _Normandy_. It was always the stares and the snarky comments in the storage area when he had first gotten aboard. It even went as far as Ashley continually shouting at him over the Relay 314 incident and Shanxi. It had taken all of his will to not respond as it was his first day on the ship. He didn't want to get kicked off on the first day due to a human's anger over what his race had done over a misunderstanding. It had taken Shepard threatening to kick Ashley off the ship to calm the woman down.

After that he vowed to not leave the storage to not risk upsetting more of the crew, even if it had meant that he couldn't get to know how a Spectre had operated in the confines of their own ship. It wasn't worth the possibility of upsetting Shepard's crew, so he would only sneak up to the crew deck during the Alliance's set night cycle to not disturb the crew.

This shop owner wasn't as livid as Ashley, and that was just over his presence, not the fact that he was going to marry a Human. _At least his reaction was a lot better than Ashley's_. With that he turns to Shepard to attempt to at least make the situation better. " Honey, pick out what you want and I'll pay for it. I've got some messages to get to. I'll be outside." With that he leaned down and joined their foreheads together and then turns to walk out.

Shepard turned to the shop owner who had gotten his rings out of the case and was staring over her shoulder at the huge Turian as he walked out and started to read messages on his omni-tool. As Shepard glared at the man he started to stutter, " Ummm, here is all the selection I have. Don't worry about size. We can instantly get it fitted."

She looked down at the selection as she was tired of looking at the face of the owner who had rubbed her the wrong way. The selection was very small, only five rings that even closely resembled an engagement ring and all of them looked dull to her. The same stone and gold colored bands. The only difference was the cut of each of the clear diamond stones. With this realization she lets out a telling sigh to show her displeasure. With that the owner spoke up, " If you don't like any of these, you can check the rest of the rings to see if you like them. It's not like your fiancé would be able to tell the difference."

Shepard ignored the the underlying message he was sending, but thought about it. He was right that Garrus wouldn't know the difference and they were in a far from normal relationship as it is, _what difference would a different ring make_. With that she looked in the case and was immediately enamored by one in the case, _no way he has a ring that color_.

" Can I look at that one?" she asks as she points in the case to the ring she wanted, _I need to make sure I'm not seeing things_. He reaches in and pulls out the ring and hands it to her.

It's a gold band like the engagement rings, but it's stone was what she was more interested in. It was a shade of Vakarian blue, perfectly matching Garrus' clan markings. " Garrus come here," she says turning to the door. This makes the owner uncomfortable again as the Turian walks in.

" What do you need Laura?" She quickly spins around and holds up the ring next to his face to compare the colors.

The Turian acts really confused as she didn't respond and her eyes were darting between his face and the tiny ring she was holding. Garrus asks again " Ummm, what did you need?"

Shepard continues to squint and sticks her tongue out as she does so many times before when she is deep in thought, then she holds out the ring, stone facing him, for him to see. It's the same color as the Vakarian clan markings that he had worn since he was two. She finally replies to his question, " I think I found it."

He was amazed at her ability to surprise him. She wanted to truly take on the Vakarian name and colors, something that would have been surprising from a Human, even if they were getting married.

Not breaking their stares, he reaches in his breast pocket and reaches to places his chit on the counter to not make the man any more uncomfortable than he already was by having to take the chit directly from his hand.

" Okay, you're good," the owner interrupts the concentration of the two as he returns the chit to the counter for Garrus to pick up. " Congrats on your engagement," he says as he gives a weak smile at the couple as they gather the ring and the chit to walk out.

Garrus is the first to speak as they reach the exit and out to the street, " Well, at least no one died."

" Yea, but at least we somewhat know what to expect from some in our races," she replies as she motions Garrus to follow her, in the direction of the store they got Garrus' visor from. " Come on. I want to add something to this ring."

" And what is that?" he asks as she reaches up to his visor and takes it off, showing him the script etched onto the metal.

" No Shepard without Vakarian, in Human Common and Turian," she says with a faint smile as she replaces the visor on his head and lowers her hands to his mandibles, giving them a slight rub. "After, I need something to eat that isn't hospital food.

* * *

It took them forever to find a restaurant that offered both levo and dextro options, but they finally settled on a small Mexican restaurant that overlooked the Pacific Ocean after they had called Vega asking for recommendations and asked him to join them as they enjoyed something other than meager peanut butter sandwiches and dextro paste.

" Damn Lola, if I knew you liked Mexican this much I would've made you tacos and empanadas all the time on the _Normandy_ ," Vega says as Shepard takes a mouthful of taco and shoves it in her mouth, not caring what anyone thinks of her eating habits.

" How about you be stuck in a hospital for a few months and tell me how you would feel seeing real food for the first time. Garrus what is in yours?"

Garrus puts down his entree that he has been playing with as he has no idea what it is even though it is dextro prepared in a Mexican fashion. " I don't know Laura. This looks a little weird," he says as he holds up an empanada from his blue dextro plate. She snatches the pace from his hand and tears it apart to show him.

" It's fried bread with meat inside. You do have bread on Palaven, right?"

" Yea, we do," he says as he looks inside the bread to see the dextro meat and takes a sniff. " Is that _carnis_? There is no way they were able to get that." He yells as he unleashes his teeth on the small pockets of meat.

" Better than you thought bud?"

" Yea, a lot better."


	8. Decisions, Decisions

_*Author's Notes- Hey guys. With Spring rolling along and it being close to the college final extravaganza, I'm going to slow down from my once a week upload schedule to an every other week one, **but**_ _I'm going to try to make the chapters longer. They seem a little short for my liking and would love to hear your guys input._ Also, considering I didn't have a direction I wanted to go in with the story, I'm going to try to make an actual plot, not just surviving and creating a life together. This may even help with the chapter length. _As always, fav, follow and review. I want to know what you guys think.;)_

Ch. 8

Decisions, Decisions

After their time out in San Diego they had returned back to the hospital to continue treatment under observation. Shepard reached across her body, straining to reach her omni-tool without waking the sleeping Turian on her legs as she laid down in bed. She finally reached it and pressed to change the channel displaying on the screen in the room. She was tired of watching _Fleet and Flotilla_ and had already seen in 100 times with Tali. She settles for a soccer game between the San Diego Xolos and Flamengo. How she missed her time N training in Rio. Whenever she had free time she tried to watch the team in Rio, Flamengo, as it helped her unwind from the hours of training and being screamed at from ruthless instructors.

Her concentration is broken by the VI announcing a visitor to the room. She turns down the screen as she turns to see the door hiss open to reveal Admiral Hackett. Shepard tries to shift up as the door opened to Admiral Hackett walking in. She held her hand up in a proper salute as she would've done any other time. The only difference was she had Garrus' head laying on her thighs asleep. _Which all he's been through, he needs it right about now,_ she thought at the time.

" Hell Commander, there's no need to salute, I should be hugging and kissing your ass after all the lives you've saved over the last few weeks," Hackett firmly stated.

" Sir, thanks for coming by, how's the rest of the world doing?" Laura asked.

" Well, we're just peachy. The relay is half way repaired, and we're housing every single alien race the world has ever seen. There's even been murmurs of the new Council making it's home here on Earth."

" That's a huge development from a few years ago where we didn't even sit on the Council," Shepard snorted.

" I think it may actually be good. Maybe not logical as we're near the edge of Council Space, but we have a versatile world that can cater to everyone," Hackett replied. " But, I came to see how you are, not talk politics."

" Sir, I'm fine. In a few weeks I'll be up and kicking ass in no time."

Hackett uncomfortably shifts his weight as he get ready to formulate his response. " Unfortunately Commander, we're going to take you off active duty. The extent of your service has been considered by the Military Tribunal as above the call of duty and feel it's deserved. The Alliance has changed your title, you're wanted as the new Executor for the Council, that is if it's on Earth."

 _I knew this day would come, but so soon?_ Laura thought to herself. " Can I think about it Sir?" she asked.

" Of course, anyone is willing to bend for the Savior of the Galaxy. If you don't accept we'll just have to find something else for you to do. I know you both need to think about it," Hackett said staring at Garrus as his head moved up and down on Shepard. " If what the Primarch is telling me is correct, he's going to offer Garrus a job as Senior Advisor to the new Turian Councilor. I'll give you time to think about it." Hackett had moved toward the door ready to take his leave.

" Thank you Sir, we'll let you know," Laura said as she shot her hand up in a salute.

When she was sure Hackett wasn't in earshot she turned toward her rousing boyfriend. " You heard that?" she said.

" Damn, how did you know?"

" Well, when you have someone fall asleep on your body multiple times, you get to know when they are faking their sleep." She had known he was awake. Hell, she knew exactly when he woke, when Hackett had told her not to salute. " But, what do you think about both of those propositions. I don't want to accept due to you not getting anything yet."

" Well, if I get the offer, I think we both should accept. Maybe the Primarch will let me be part time, so you can accept and I can more than enough help raise the kids if we every have any."

 _What, I'm not even out, we don't have a home and Garrus is thinking about kids right now. What has gotten into him?_ She thought as she smiled at him. _Maybe you're over thinking this. Nothing over the past three years has gone to plan, maybe that's why I'm so worried._

* * *

Garrus woke up in his cot when he heard the slight chirp of his omni-tool. _Curse you you stupid machine_ , he thought as he lifted it up to see it was the Primarch. He wanted to step outside the hall to take it. _I Don't think the Primarch would like it that his communication could be heard by everyone in the hospital_ , he thought as he looked around. He eyed the human bathroom and sighed. _Not again_ , he sighs at the use of the room. It's _the only secured space and it would make a great story, I guess._ " Primarch, what can I do for you?" he said as he shut the door.

" Garrus, are you in a human washroom?"

" Only secure room in the hospital Sir," Garrus grumbled.

" Ha, when you need your privacy. I called to see how you and Shepard were doing. It's hard to get information when you're coordinating the entire population of a homeworld in a small area."

" We're fine, she woke up a few weeks ago. She just needs time to fully recover, and you know me. Nothing will ever stop a Vakarian."

" True, you and your father are testament to that," the Primarch chuckled nervously as he was trying to figure how to ask. " Garrus, I also wanted to call you to offer you a position as the Senior Advisor to our new Councilor."

 _Of course you are,_ Garrus mused to himself. He'd known about it for a few days after Hackett let it slip. " Do we even know who the Councilor will even be?" He regretted asking because in the back of his mind, he knew. The man who had been close to a few Primarchs, was close to the top of the Turian tier structure, and had gotten him his task force and resources. _Please don't say it's him._

" We have it pinned to be your father, Vibos Vakarian."

Garrus died a little on the inside. He was going to be an advisor to the man who had talked down on him as he was never enough, stalled and ended his investigations in C-SEC in the name of not following rules, and most of all held a biased idea of humanity. Some would call it racism, but Garrus didn't think it went that far. Even then, serving under his father of all people who had a very narrow idea of what a Turian should be and who a Turian should be fucking is a daunting idea to him.

" I'll have to think about it Primarch. Can I have a few days to think about it and can it be part-time? I can't imagine my father needing a massive amount of help." Garrus said as he tried to hide his discontent, but knew the fellow Turian could see right through the changes in his sub-harmonics.

" Yes, We can arrange for part-time after all that's happened and you have two days. Bye, Vakarian," the Primarch replied before the omni-tool connection ended. Garrus opened the door to find Shepard staring at him.

" That what I thought it was?" she asked.

" Yep and my father will be the new Councilor."

" Well, I had to meet him someday. But we need to talk about what we want to do."

" I want to make my home here, with you. That is if you want to," Garrus said.

 _Wow, straight forward. I like that_ , Shepard thought. " If you want to I want to as well. We can finally end running forever and settle down, maybe a couple of kids…" She was kicking herself for saying that. He said that the other day and she had questioned him. Now she was the one suggesting it. His mandibles flicked in surprise to her words.

 _She had always deflected when they talked of it in the hospital. Maybe she's ready after we both may have a chance at being a semi-normal couple, besides the inter-species thing_ , he thought to himself.

" So, we're both gonna accept?"

" Yea, definitely," he said in the same seductive way he did when she asked if he wanted to "relieve stress" with her before they took on the Collectors.

She chuckled at his voice as she remembered the first awkward conversation they had about doing the deed.

* * *

The door opened as the Asari doctor walked in with a file of papers, " Shepard, Vakarian. You're free to leave now. We want to wish you both well in your lives and hope to not see you in here for a long time."

" Thanks doc, we'll try to keep ourselves out of trouble," Shepard said as she adjusted her Alliance dress uniform. Her scars have healed quickly after the corrective surgeries. They made her look as if Harbinger hadn't even hit her. Garrus sat quietly waiting for Shepard in his Turian Military uniform. It was hard to get used to it as most of the time he had been wearing heavy armor over the uniform. He felt too light, too exposed for his liking.

Shepard had came out to the waiting room to see Garrus sitting uncomfortably in the human designed chairs. His crimson outfit sticking out in the sea of white and navy blue of the hospital staff and Alliance personnel. "Ready to go?" she asked as she took his hand and fit her five fingers as best she could between his three talons. He got up and followed her outside.

The Pacific sun was blinding at first as Shepard waited for her eyes to adjust. She looked to see the buildings still broken, ravaged, and knocked down. _At least the streets are clean._

They went to the sky-car provided by the Alliance and Laura stated their destination, " San Diego Public Transport Terminal number 5."

" Laura, where are we going? The Primarch told me we were to head to the city of Barcelona, as that's the new home of the Council." Garrus questioned.

" I know, but I felt you would want to go here first," Laura said as the car stated information on Terminal five.

" Terminal five, next transport leaves in one hour. Destination; Las Vegas, Nevada," the onboard computer stated.


	9. Reunion

_*Author's Notes- Hey guys! Sorry about the wait. Finals week is really kickin my ass and it was hard to find the time to pump this out. As always, if you like the story, please review, fav, and follow!_

Chapter 9

Reunion

The shuttle slowed and entered the temporary terminal set up to shuttle supplies for the Turian camps. They got out and caught another sky car, destination: the Strip. A place Shepard had heard stories about. It was the greatest collection of gambling and entertainment on this side of the planet at one point. It was now a ghost town, but it served a purpose for the Hierarchy as they waited for the relays to be fixed.

" I tracked down your father and sister here. It's a lot easier to find you when you're tapped to be the next Councilor for your race." Shepard said.

Garrus kept quiet as his mind raced over how his reunion would go. _Am I ready for this? Is my father going to be glad to see me? How's Solana?_

Even with all of these questions running through his head he forgot the biggest one to him, _How will he react to Shepard?_ _Well, he'd find out sooner than later,_ he thought as he stared out the window.

As the car lowered to where Shepard and Garrus got out, they were met with cautious eyes. _A Turian and a Human in the same car?_ No matter how normal it was for him, Garrus forgot how rigid Turian culture was on Humans. Shepard played it off as she didn't notice, or she didn't care.

As they walked into one of the oversized buildings that had giant pools in front. The buildings and pools had fallen into disrepair, empty and falling apart like an old western town you see in the old movies.

They turn as they hear a loud authoritative Turian that was giving orders as he was leaning over a holo-map of the city. He bore the same clan markings, the Palaven blue that stretched across his nose, cheek plates, and mandibles like Garrus. His mandibles splayed wide in surprise then tightened in typical Turian fashion when he saw the duo together.

" Fellus, take over here," he said as he marched over to greet the two. "Garrus, what are you doing here? I was expecting to meet you at the Council," he said as he shook the hand of his son and extends his hand out toward Shepard. " Even as I'm pleasantly surprised, what are you doing here Executor Shepard? I didn't order an escort."

" Yea about that dad. I need to tell you something, but not here," Garrus replied as he guided his father outside after he leans to Shepard, " Can you wait out here? I don't know how he'll handle it."

She bobs her head in agreement and moves off to inspect the old pools that had so far been filled with the sand of the desert.

Garrus followed his father into the lobby of the old building close to the Turian HQ. The interior hadn't fared well like the outside. The sand had made it's way in any way it could and dust covered the ancient machines on the walls.

As they reached the interior away from prying ears Vibos turned to meet his son, " What is this son? What's so important that you have to take me from my post?"

" Dad…I don't know how to tell you this…" He had imagined telling his dad, but of course telling him in his dreams and in person is a very different thing.

* * *

 _Dad Shepard and I are mates._

 _What the hell are you doing? No Turian woman wants you?_

 _Dad Shepard and I are mates._

 _I'm mates with a Hanar._

 _Dad Shepard and I are mates._

 _I've been casted for the next Blasto movie._

 _Dad Shepard and I are mates._

 _How are Humans in bed? Are they as good as the Asari?_

 _Dad Shepard and I are mates._

 _You're disowned, get the hell out of my sight and may the Spirits forgive you._

* * *

 _Garrus you can do this,_ was the primary thought racing through his brain as all of these scenarios run through his head, and none of them good.

" Shepard and I are mates dad."

His usual reserved mandibles widened in surprise then retracted again, " Wow I'm surprised. I really thought that you would stick within the species, but you deserve to be happy. I can't fault you for that."

Garrus sighed at this revelation. It was a weight off his chest to find that his dad at least didn't disown him over who he loved. But, maybe after everything his family has been through, his father had softened up on his hateful demeanor he had when Garrus was a young man in C-SEC.

He looked out the window to see her walking through a sea of Turians. She stops in front of the field hospital and helped a wobbling Turian walk over to a cot to be looked at. A small Human letting a Turian almost double her size lean on her to get the help he needed.

As she sets the Turian down and starts to talk to him she looks up and notices Garrus starring from inside. They locked eyes and she let out a faint smile as she pulled back loose hair behind her ear.

" She does make you happy?" Vibos asks, breaking Garrus' thoughts as he looked through the dusty windows.

Garrus smiled back and turned to his father " More than anything in this world."

They exited the old casino to meet Shepard, who Vibos was very content to talk to, knowing that his son and her were in a relationship. They approached her, engrossed in conversation with the injured Turian. The Turian tried to jump up, compounding his injuries, but gave a small salute as he winced in pain, " Councilor Vakarian, Advisor Vakarian."

" At ease," the older Turian responded. " What is your name?"

" Corporal Caeus Heldos, Sir," he replied with intrigue at the fact that a high ranking member of the Hierarchy is actually talking to a barefaced soldier.

His leg had cuts and burns up and down the hide and plates. His facial expressions were pained, and rightly so as his leg looked like it would be scarred for the rest of his life.

" How long have you been waiting for treatment?"

" An hour Sir. They've given painkillers to try to tide me over until they can look at it."

" That's way too long," the elder Vakarian replied as he turns to the medical tent and shouts to get someones attention. " Medic Vakarian, I need help out here."

Vibos turned around and continued his conversation with the Corporal, leaving Garrus awkwardly standing with Shepard over the fact that the Councilor called over the other Vakarian. Someone who Garrus did not want to see right now, especially when he was dealing with his father at the moment.

As his father continues to ignore them, a tall attractive female Turian wearing a blue medic uniform came out of one of the tents and started to walk toward the small group. She had a slight limp which led Shepard to put two and two together.

Shepard watches her as she walked with the same sway that she has seen many female Turians do while walking around on the Citadel, even as she was trying to hide the slight limp. _Obviously looking for a mate,_ Shepard scoffed to herself as she smiled finding it hard to contain herself as she saw every Turian and his brother look at the young medic.

When she saw her father she smiled and continued to walk toward the man talking with the soldier. When Garrus came into view she lost her smile and her eyes glazed over.

 _No, I cannot deal with this today_ , Garrus thought as his sister coldly walked up to the two Turians.

" Ah Corporal, I've been looking for you. A spot opened up and it's got your name on it. First I need to do a basic evaluation."

She started her evaluation and whenever she was close to looking at Garrus, deflected her eyes elsewhere.

Garrus knew it was going to be hard to tell both of his father and sister, but he didn't think she was going to be the worse of the two.

As he lowered his head in defeat over his sister, he felt a slight tug on his arm. He looked over to see Shepard pull him away, obviously over her confusion at the situation. He didn't have the strength to fight back and slowly followed her to the lobby of one of the abandoned buildings with his head lowered in sadness the entire way.

Shepard took his hands and looked up to his lowered head, " What's going on?"

" That was my sister, Solana," he choked out as Shepard lifted his head by cupping it between her hands.

" It doesn't take a C-SEC detective to figure that out, but what's her issue with you?"

" It's all about my mother, how I was never there to help take care of her. It was during the fight against the Collectors, so my father told me to stay. She never let it go how _Mater_ had died with only one of her children by her side."

At this point Garrus was quietly weeping into Shepard's shoulder. He had never done this before on the _Normandy_ in her presence. After all of the things they had been through, the one to set him over the edge was the death of his mother and how he wasn't there in the end, not the decimation of the Turian fleets over Palaven or his family being missing.

" Garrus, I'm so sorry. Look, we'll just go out and talk to your father. She'll come around to you, but let's just work on one at a time," she said as she rubbed under his fringe, something that had always helped him calm down.

He returned a small smile as he responded, " yea, we can do that."

As they go back out to the field hospital they see that Vibos was the only one waiting for them.

As they approached he started toward them. " It's getting dark, I want you two to stay here for the night. You can join Solana and myself for breakfast before you head out."

" Thank you, father," Garrus let out as he tried to control his subharmonics from giving away his emotional state.

" Let me take you to your room."

After they climbed four flights of stairs to reach the level they needed, they made their way to the group of rooms reserved for the Vakarians. Vibos stopped in front of one of the doors and opened it for them. "There, you're right next to me and Solana. If you have any issues, just tell either of us."

" Councillor, thank you," Shepard replied. Garrus only walked in with a slight nod, still feeling distraught from his sister's silent punishment.

After Shepard shut the door behind Garrus, she took him and walked him to the bed while massaging the hide under his fringe. " It's okay, lets get you to bed," she said as she set him at the edge of the bed and started to work at the buckles and zippers on his uniform until she got him in nothing but his natural plates.

After she got him out, she laid him on the bed and quickly folded his clothes for the next morning. As they hadn't planned on staying overnight, they only had the one change of clothes.

After she had striped down herself, she got in the bed and gently put the Turian's head on her legs as she laid against the headboard of the old bed.

She started to try to fall asleep, but only reached it when she heard Garrus softy snoring on her. _Hopefully tomorrow will be better_ , she thought as she finally fell asleep.

* * *

Shepard slowly work up, not recognizing where she was. Then she looked around, she could only see darkness that continued forever.

As she continued to franticly look around she spotted Anderson. He was standing there, looking at her as if he was expecting her to come to him.

Shepard started to run to Anderson, who continued to stand still. When Shepard got closer, she saw he was injured. He was holding his side, and had blood running down his face.

He finally moved, but kneeling to reveal someone behind him.

The Illusive Man stood over Anderson and they both looked up to see her approach.

" Ah Shepard, I found out how to control them, and you need to stay out of my way. I will be the pinnacle of Human evolution and show the galaxy what we can achieve. This is your only warning." With that he points the guns to the back of Anderson's head, " This is what happens to those who don't listen."

He pulled the trigger just as Shepard reached out to Anderson to try and pull him out of the way.

She didn't make it in time and could feel the heat from the gun as it was fired into Anderson's head, leaving a hole in the back of his skull.

" No, Anderson!" she screamed as she reached her knees and cradled his body in her arms.

" Let that be a lesson Shepard. This fight is not over," the Illusive Man said as he walked away into the infinite blackness.

* * *

She woke up with a gasp. Sweating from either her dream or the heat trickling in from the hot Nevada morning.

She was tucked in with no Garrus to be seen beside her. Looking over, she saw the clothes she folded were gone, and the door to the small bathroom shut with light peeking out under the door.

As she got out from the bed and put her carefully folded clothes on in preparation for the pending breakfast with the Vakarians, the door to the bathroom opened to reveal Garrus fumbling around with a buckle on his tunic." Are you ready for breakfast?"

As a response he gave her a scowl as he picked up his visor to put it on, partly hiding the look of resentfulness for what's to come.

As they made their way down the dust halls to the open area where they were having breakfast, Shepard took Garrus's hand and squeezed in reassurance that they would make it through this.

As they entered the open area that Shepard recognized as an old buffet area from when the building was a destination.

Shepard looked around to see the room populated with Turians. All enjoying various forms of dextro rations that they had been living on for the past month.

It was easy to point out the Vakarians, you only had to look for the large rigid Turian and the one who obviously didn't want to be there.

As they approached Vibos got up, leaving Solana sitting with her mandibles tight and a scowl on her face.

" Spectre, welcome," Vibos said as he pulled out a chair for the Human, receiving glares from the room full of Turians. _Who knew being polite was a sin_.

" Dad, why must you be polite to her and Garrus? Especially after him leaving us to tend to mother," Solana scowled as she remained sitting.

As Shepard settled in it was hard to remain composed at the shots that Solana was throwing at her and Garrus.

" It's not what mother would've wanted or deserved. She deserved all of us there for her, but you continue to show support for abandoning _Mater_."

Shepard looked over to Garrus and could see that he was not taking it well.

He was hunched over in the Human chair, looking down at the ration on the table to not look at his sister and show how hurt he was, but Shepard didn't need to see his face to know. It was the same hurt he had when he found out that Solana and his father were missing on Palaven.

She couldn't take the abuse on her mate anymore, and quickly stood up and jeered a finger at Solana, " Stop it! If anyone is to take the blame for it, blame me. Now leave him out of it. I was the one who dragged him away! We were fighting the Reapers, and if he wasn't there, we may not be here today!For that I'm sorry. Now leave him out of it!"

After all of her yelling she was heated. Her pale skin turning red with rage at Solana for her assault on Garrus.

She looked around to see the entire room of Turians staring at her.

" Commander, I think it would be best for us to leave the room and have a discussion."

She looks down at the voice to see Vibos start to get up.

Vibos points to his daughter, " You will stay and finish your meal."

With that, Solana became irritated at her father but obeyed.

As they left the room, Shepard took one last look at the youngest Vakarian. As they exited, she only watched them from her chair with her arms crossed in anger.

As they walked into the eldest Vakarian's room, he turned around and quickly let his plates and mandibles slack to finally show his true emotions. " I'm sorry about Solana, Commander. She still doesn't understand the gravity of the threats you had faced at the time of their mother's death."

Shepard could finally breathe normally and calmed down enough to talk as she held Garrus at the end of the bed. He was about ready to break down and keen over his sister's words. " Councillor, it's fine, but he is a different story."

" Well, we can finish this conversation at other time. I think you two should head back to your room and cool down. As I always say, calmer heads always prevail. When I return tonight we can continue."

" Thank you Councillor, and please call me Laura."

As Shepard had led Garrus toward the door to their room, just next door, Vibos had stopped her. " Thank you for keeping him safe. I can see why he has taken a liking to you. It may not be what may be acceptable yet in our society, but please know I hold no ill will towards you. and please call me Vibos."

" Vibos, thank you."

She finally shut the door and went over to Garrus, who had started to keen.

" Garrus, I'm so sorry. Lets go to bed and you'll feel better when you wake up."

As she joined Garrus in the small bed, she laid his head across her chest and gently pet his fringe, something he always enjoyed her doing as it calmed him down.

Soon she felt the Turian asleep on her and decided to join him in an effort to at least feel a little better in preparation for hopefully, a better talk.


	10. Terrible Burdens

**Authors Notes** \- Well guys, my college year has wrapped up, so I will look to try and keep a one chapter a week schedule, and this is coming a week early as a sorry for being late on chapter 9. In other news, Life Anew has broken 2,000 views! Keep it up readers! As always, please review, follow, and favorite if you like the story, I need to know what you guys think!

Chapter 10

Terrible Burdens

 **Mater plus quam te amo se lunaeque Palaven** \- Mother, I love you more than the moons of Palaven themselves

 **Fumabat** \- Smoked

Garrus was in the corner of the room. It was dimly lit and dirty. If anyone looked around, they would have trouble even seeing him in the corner hidden from the small bulb hanging in the room.

His attention moved to the chairs in the room. One held the small frame of a Human female in tattered Alliance blues and the other was a long, muscular, and plated body, unmistakably Turian, with a crack in his keel plates.

He was bleeding from the wound. Both had bags over their heads, slumping as if they were unconscious.

Garrus' eyes darted to the lone movement in the room.

Admiral Hackett had stepped into the room with another person, carrying a syringe.

He walked over to the woman and slowly pierced her neck and pressed on the plunger. The blue liquid in the syringe moved quickly from the push of the plunger.

The woman woke up with a gasp, looking around but finding only darkness under the bag on her head.

" We need to talk, Commander. I need you to trust me, but I need to know if you can trust me," Hackett said as he lifted the bag from the head of the woman.

Garrus was shocked to see Shepard. Her dark hair falling after being released from the bag.

She was injured. Her face covered in bruises and blood coming from her head and mouth.

She coughed and let out a strained response, " Hackett, I'm not joining you. Every single time I've seen you, it's only been to ask if I'll join you. No ' How have you been Commander?', no ' Congratulations Commander,' I'm not going to change my answer."

Hackett moved behind the Turian and let out a sigh, " Well that's a damn shame, but we've bought more than enough motivation."

The bag came off the Turian to reveal himself.

It was clearly himself, but injured. His face plates were covered in dried blood and one of his mandibles were twisted.

Garrus grimaced at the pain that he was feeling. A injured mandible was one of the most painful things that could happen to a Turian.

A pistol had made its way into Hackett's hand and visibly showed it to Shepard. " This is what will help you change your tune, he said as he put the gun to Garrus's head.

" Commander, we don't have time for these games. Unlike you, we are on a timetable. If you don't join us, I will have to end your mate's life. I should do it anyways since it is what we're fighting against, but if it gives us leverage so be it."

" FINE! Just leave him be."

Garrus could see tears fall and start to stain Shepard's shredded clothes.

" Was that so hard? Welcome back to Cerberus."

As he walked toward Shepard, he hit her in the face with the pistol, knocking her out again.

—

Garrus woke up with a gasp.

Garrus looked around the room, finding a flimsy clock to check the time. He grimaced at the fact that he had slept for 4 hours, an entire sleep cycle for him.

He quietly got up to not disturb Shepard, who was still sleeping, _she needs it more than I do_. The past 3 years had been a drain on her, and it was about time they got some time off.

It all came back to him. His sister berating him in front of the higher ranks of the Hierarchy. How he had tried to forgive himself for leaving his mother, but Solana opened those old wounds again.

He needed something to eat. They never got to eat breakfast and his stomach was more of a threat to wake Shepard than him shuffling around the room.

With that in mind, he placed a note for Shepard and quietly left the room. He had to find Shepard and himself something to eat, and try to make sure he didn't run into Solana.

As he made his way into the mess he saw his father conversing with Solana in the far corner.

Food would have to wait. He couldn't deal with this right now, so he tried to slide back out to the lobby. Garrus noticed Solana look up as he turned around.

 _Well shit_ , he grimaced as he walked into the lobby.

Just as he went to go up the stairs to get to the room, he felt himself pulled back from the hand on his shoulder.

He turned around bracing himself for the abuse Solana was going to unleash on him, but was surprised to see the blue eyes of his father.

He held out his hand and showed the grey packaging of rations.

Garrus tensed wondering if his father bought some for Shepard, as he had gone to look for the both of them.

Sensing his son's worry, he responded quickly.

" No need to worry, I've bought both dextro and levo rations. In exchange for these, I want to talk to you."

" Okay, but where?"

" My room, and I have a bottle of brandy and some glasses."

As they made their way into his father's room, the elder went to a cabinet that revealed a bottle of brandy and glasses.

He grabbed two and twisted the top of the tumbler, and poured two glasses.

Vibos turned around noticing that the entire time Garrus had been pacing around, nervously wringing his hands.

He motioned to the empty chairs in the room as he handed his son a glass.

" Please, sit."

It was the only invitation Garrus needed as he slumped into one of the human chairs.

As his father set the glasses and tumbler down, Garrus reached to see what they were drinking.

He looked at the intricate tumbler, an aged Cipritine _Fumabat_ brandy. "Wow, I've never had this. Even as an advisor I couldn't get my hands on this." he said as he continued to study the beautiful Turian script running down the tumbler.

" Now that Palaven is in shambles, only the Councilor, a few Generals, and the Primarchs themselves will be able to get it for some time." Vibos responded as he coaxed Garrus to give up the bottle and replaced the tumbler with a crystal glass of the dark liquid.

" So you wanted to talk?" Garrus asked as he looked up at his father, who was looking pained, undoubtedly over the rift in his children.

" Yes," he said as he took a sip of the brandy. " I'm sorry about Solana, but you must know that she hasn't fared well over the past year. She's just taking it out on you." He sighed, " The death of your _Mater_ had pushed her, especially you not being there, but what you don't know is that the war took more than you think."

Garrus took a sip of the smooth alcohol. " Like what?"

" Well, to start, it took her leg."

" What do you mean, her leg?" Garrus asked, puzzled as he almost spit out his drink, to save himself by quickly finishing the little he had in his mouth. " I thought it was just a break?"

" No, son." the elder Turian started to look pained. " She had to have it amputated. She only was fit for duty a week ago." As he looked up and out the window overlooking the plaza of Turians milling about, working to tend to the needs of their people. " It's amazing how life-like prosthetics are now, and you haven't seen or talked to us for months, so you wouldn't really know."

Garrus dropped his head. That meant that Solana could no longer serve on the front line or in the Blackwatch, a dream of her's. She always wanted to be a front line combat medic, saving lives and doing work of high importance to the Hierarchy. With the prosthetic, she could only work in auxiliary units.

" That's not all." the elder said to break Garrus's thoughts. " She also had a potential mate, Garrus."

" What do you mean, "Had," father?" Garrus said as he prepared for what he already knew he meant.

" He died in the Reaper invasion of Cipritine. Helping save civilians, he was swarmed by Reaper forces as Sol and I had to watch from the shuttle." As Garrus's father took another sip of the drink, Garrus opened his mouth to speak.

"I had no idea, father," Garrus responded as he lowered his head in shame. He should've known. He didn't even know she had a potential mate. He had been running off protecting the galaxy from the Reapers and he didn't know about his family.

" I wouldn't have expected you. Communications had been down and you were busy protecting the galaxy, with plenty of success, I might add." The elder finished off his glass and replaced it on the small table between the chairs. " You couldn't be there then, and I understand, but she doesn't. Let her yell all she wants, but let her know that you are finally here to stay. Maybe then she will understand why you've been away."

Vibos got up and moved to the door. When he reached it, he turned around. "Also, don't think that she doesn't love that you found a mate. She doesn't know yet, but after Shepard's defense of you, I think she'll just assume. After having it teared away from her, she is just angry at the world as she sees how happy you two are." He went to leave and before shutting the door said, " When you finish the brandy, just leave the glass. You have a mate to get to."

He quickly gave his father a slight nod as he left and closed the door.

Garrus just starred out over the concrete jungle and the thousands of Turians milling about with his glass in hand. He had no idea the war had touched his family so close. The loss of a potential mate could be the end of a Turian, as they took their relationships seriously.

He sighed as he thought about how he would have to go and talk to his sister, or let her scream at him. Whichever made her feel better.

—

 _Damn you Garrus_ , was her thoughts as she quickly walked between the medical tents, tending to her patients. She was overloaded and her father throwing the burned, barefaced Turian on top of her load wasn't helping.

Even as she worked on every one of the patients she had, one datapad for each in the stack that she fumbled to carry around.

She mistakenly had confused patients for each other once or twice, no doubt from her current emotion state. The only one she couldn't mistake was the lone barefaced, Corporal Caeus Heldos.

She didn't know what had gotten into her father. He was always one to help everyone, but throwing the barefaced on top of her workload of looking at her other eight patients didn't help her.

As she walked into the tent and saw the soldier laying down, playing around with a piece of paper, she scoffed. _Well time to get this over with._

" Corporal Heldos?" she asked as she tried to hide her disdain.

He set the wad of paper down and looked up. " Yes, ma'am?"

Solana was enamored on how the paper was folded into the shape of a small animal with wings. So much that Heldos had to stand up to gain her attention again.

" No, Corporal. Standing is a no go for you," she said as she moved to let him down back on the bed, careful not to touch him.

" O, sorry ma'am. So what can I do for you?" he asked quizzically as he looked up at her.

" I'm here to assess your condition," she said as she pointed to his leg. When she finally dug out his datapad, she started with the basic medical questions while she tapped away on the pad.

She looked up finally and asked her last question, " Okay, Any pre-existing conditions?"

With that, the Turian's face turned to stone and stared at her. " Don't you have my medical records?"

" No. If we were connected to Palaven, I would have them, but we have to ask."

With that he looked down and spoke softly, undoubtedly so no-one else could hear. " I'm a cabal."

 _No wonder he had such a wait_ , she thought as she looked at the Turian with his head sullen, obviously from shame.

She finished her scans, finding that he would be up in no time with a healthy dose of medi-gel to his leg. Through the whole ordeal, he still was silent in shame. In an attempt to at least cheer him up, she motioned to the small paper animal. " What is that?"

He looked up to see what she was pointing at and beamed at her interest in the piece of paper. " The animal is a bird," he responded quickly.

" I know that, but what is it called when you do that with the paper?" she responded with a chuckle.

" It's called Origami. It's an old Human form of art. I learned it from my childhood on Thessia," he smiled as he trusted the small bird into her hands. "Here, take it. I have plenty of paper to make more. Also, if you have time and want to learn, I can show you a few animals," he beamed as she graciously accepted the paper.

" Thank you, Corporal. Growing up on Thessia, you must have plenty of stories from being raised with the Asari." she said as she moved back to her datapads and deposited the paper into a cargo pocket of her trousers. " I think that I will come to learn an animal or two, if I have the time," she said as she scooped her datapads and began to move toward her next patient.

" Try to recover Corporal. I better not see you out of this bed until I give the go ahead," she sternly said, changing back into the hard, rigid Turian.

He quickly nodded in response. " Yes, Medical Sergeant."

With that she quickly left with a smirk on her face. Not because she was actually interested in what the Corporal had to say, but because it was the first time since she saw Garrus that she wasn't thinking of how to kill him.

As the Medical Sergeant left, Heldos watched her until she completely disappeared from view. He cursed over the fact that he couldn't walk, or else he would get up just to see her again. Her imperfect grace from the limp she tried to hide, or her beautiful face and physique that was beautiful by Turian standards.

Her stoic appearance reminded him of his mother, the graceful Turian that raised him alongside her second bondmate, an Asari.

He opened a small pocket along his keel and pulled a small holo out, pressing the button to activate it. It sputtered until it showed an image of his mother kneeling next his younger self. Like any child, he was very disinterested in anything except playing with the dirt, as his mother pointed to show him what direction to smile.

He reached out almost to feel as if he was touching her face. Smiling, he spoke only so he could hear. " _Mater plus quam te amo se lunaeque Palaven_."

—

Garrus teetered on whether or not he should see Solana. It would be best to talk to her before they left, and it would be best to talk to her on-duty. Maybe she would be cool headed and professional enough to handle talking.

As he walked into the medical tent, he spotted the Turian with the burns that Shepard had talked to.

As he approached, he saw the small holo of a child and what was presumed, their mother.

Garrus cleared his throat to get his attention. " Mate and child?"

Heldos looked up, his attention broken. " No, my mother."

Garrus looked down at the holo again, admiring the moment it was taken. " Well, Heldos. She's beautiful."

With that, the injured Turian's face became sullen. " That she was, Advisor Vakarian." he replied as he nodded in agreement.

Sensing he hit a nerve, Garrus decided to change the subject. " I've been looking for Medic Vakarian. Do you happen to know where she went?"

With the mention of Solana, Heldos smiled at Vakarian. " Medical Sergeant Vakarian went out that way a few minutes ago, sir," he said as he pointed to an open flap.

" Thank you Corporal," Garrus said as he nodded to the injured, barefaced Turian.

He moved outside the tent to notice that he was sitting in a supply closet. There was little chance she was still there, but if Heldos hadn't seen her leave, she was probably still here.

As he moved past a few boxes, he saw the female sitting on a crate, slumped over with something small in her hands. She was keening, as silently as she could to keep from others to come in and check up on her.

As he moved closer, he recognized it as paper formed into a small bird. Her attention wasn't fazed as he walked up to her.

As he walked closer, she surprised Garrus by talking. "Delorn loved little things like this. He loved little crafts."

She slowly looked up at her brother, softly letting out a keening noise. " I'm sorry Sol. Dad just told me today." he said as comfort while pressing his forehead to hers. " We have to have a talk."

She tried to compose herself and reply. " We do, but not right now." She said as she wiped her brow." Lets do it over dinner. Just the two of us."

" If that's what you want, then I will be there."


	11. All in the Family

_Author's Notes- So here we are, one week late. Who knew you don't have more time when you're on break? Anyways, sorry about being late with the update. I want to also apologize as I'm going to go to an update every other Friday. I wanted to make the chapters longer and of some sort of quality, and I can only do that with time. Anyways, I hope you enjoy, and follow, favorite, and review, even just to say hi!_

Chapter 11

All in the Family

As Garrus walked into the room he and Shepard shared together, he saw the folded Alliance uniform was taken off the armchair and the light of the bathroom gleamed under the shut door.

He set down the silver gleaming packets of food on a table and moved to the chair next to it, debating what to say to Shepard about his talk to Solana and the recent revelations his father had told him. She would support a resolution, as she wanted to get to know his family. She never had a family growing up and being part of one would mean the world to her.

When she finally opened the door, he had decided to put it off until they at least had eaten, because Shepard wouldn't eat if he told her about it. She would be worried about Solana and him, her caring personality working against her.

As she walked out of the bathroom, she smiled, looking a lot better than earlier in the morning, when she yelled at his sister.

" Hey, big guy." she said as she walked up to him, her smile radiating a warmness that made him giddy whenever it showed.

She motioned to the packets. " I see you got us something to eat."

Garrus returned the smile as she picked up a levo packet and started to bite into the cardboard-looking material. " Yea, I went out to see the progress on the refugee camps and I came across food for us both. I know we both could use use it." He said as he clawed at her hips to pull her over as she let out a small yelp from the abrupt contact.

She laughed as she finished the small piece of cardboard. " Someone's touchy today."

" Well, when Turians have a bit of a dry spell, we get a little touchy," he chuckled as he guided her onto his lap. " When we get out of here, you'll have to help me with it," he whispered as he nuzzled her neck.

Shepard looked at her omni-tool, checking the time, as she got up to grab another packet. " Maybe…if you're good, you won't have to wait until Barcelona."

Garrus got up and grabbed a packet for himself and pushed himself close to her to be a tease. " You don't want to tempt me…"

Playing along, she pushed herself against his chest. " I would love to tempt you," she said as she pushed on his chest, " but, it's going to have to wait until after we head out tonight."

Garrus sighed and moved to the bed, deciding now was the time to tell her. Her in the mood would help. " Tonight I'm having dinner with my sister. It turns out I've missed a lot that's happened in my family over the last few years."

Shepard moved to lay next to him and squeezed his talons. " Are you going to be okay?"

He started to massage Shepard's hands, wringing his thumbs in circles o her palms. " Yea, I should be fine, but I'm more concerned on what you're going to do. You're in a camp of only Turians with nothing to do for a few hours."

She got off the bed and worked the knots in her hair from laying down. " I'll be fine. I actually have to check on Corporal Heldos. I promised to talk to him and say goodbye." She looked at Garrus and sighed. " He obviously has no-one to talk to or look after him considering his circumstances, it would probably help to talk to another outcast."

Garrus smiled at her, embracing her tiny form. " I love that about you. You don't care about what others think."

She chuckled and pushed off of his body. " Well, you have a dinner to get to," she said as she moved a hand to Garrus's face. " You need to settle it before we leave, and you need your family back."

He sighed, resigning himself to the dinner with his sister. The man who had faced down three of the largest mercenary gangs, destroyed the Collectors, and faced Reapers head on couldn't think of facing his distraught sister.

" Well, I'm going to leave you to get ready," Shepard said, breaking his concentration on the impending dread coming his way. He stared at her as she walked out the door, shutting him in to get ready.

* * *

As Shepard walked through the small camp at the front of the hotel, she noticed the piles of stares directed toward her, obviously due to the difference in physiology.

As she walked through the collection of medical tents in search of the injured Turian she had befriended, she was asked multiple times, rudely, if she was in the right place. Each time she grew more agitated as they would only question her, not point her in the right direction.

After a good hour of searching in the retched, desert heat, she fount the tent that Heldos had been moved to.

As she walked up to the flaps of the tent entrance, she poked her head in, darting her eyes back and forth looking for Garrus's sister, trying to avoid her until Garrus himself had talked to her.

When she was satisfied the woman wasn't anywhere to be seen, she slowly walked in, scanning the room looking for the young Turian's bed. Like everywhere else, she was met with evaluating stares from around the room.

Confident she had found the right bed, the only one with a Turian not sporting clan markings on his face. She walked over to the Turian, noticing him playing with a piece of paper.

" No fucking way. You know origami?" she loudly asked when she finally noticed the paper being fashioned into a small bird. The boisterous woman gaining even more stares from the tents occupants.

Grabbing the Turian's attention, he looked up and gave her a Turian smile with his mandibles spreading wide. " Yep. It's really hard with only three fingers though," he groaned as he tried finishing the bird, to no success.

Shepard reached out and snatched the bird from him. " Here, let me."

She shifted the small paper in her hand, noticing the sharp angles and marveled at the skill it took the Turian to fold the paper, especially with three fingers. _It's hard enough for Humans to do it. I wonder how he does it_ , she thought as she continued to examine the bird, long enough to make the Turian nervous, until she found the issue.

She finished the small piece of paper with lightning fast precision that came with years of practice. As she handed the bird back, it wasn't hard to see how surprised he was about the skill. " What?" she asked as she held her hands up as if she didn't do anything wrong. " I gotta do something with all my mission report drafts. I don't want to waste all that paper without getting at least some personal satisfaction out of it."

He accepted the finished bird and gave a light chuckle. " Don't we all. All that paperwork is a pain in the ass." He inspected the paper and shifted it back toward Shepard. " Thanks for the help. You can have it."

Shifting the bird in her hand to get a look at it, she responded without looking at the Turian. " Why? You did most of the work, and it's beautiful."

Caeus shifted and got off the bed, " Well, I make them for anyone here that will accept them, and I already have a lot made. Many Turians don't accept them because they don't appreciate Human art or don't want to associate with me, for obvious reasons."

Shepard looked up at the Turian towering over her. " Well, wanna go for a walk? It's the last night I'm here and I don't know when I'll see you again."

" Sure, Commander," he replied as his eyes lit up, undoubtedly from the interaction.

 _Commander_ , how she hated that title, especially when used by friends. " Please Caeus, my name is Laura."

The Turian bowed his head, _probably a form of respect_. It's not everyone who is on first name basis with a hero of the galaxy.

" Thank you, Laura. I can only imagine where I would be right now if you hadn't talked to me," Caeus said as they started their walk, moving away from the medical section of the camp.

" Well, I would like to think that Garrus's father would've taken care of you, but I don't want to leave that to chance. Speaking of which, how is Medical Sergeant Vakarian treating you? Not driving her crazy yet?" Shepard said as she looked over, watching the Turian try to hide the pain walking was giving him.

" She's fine. As best as I have gotten before," he said, shrugging his shoulders in the process. " She's not as openly bigoted though. At least that's a positive."

As they walked toward the edge of the camp, they came across the dried out remains of one of the fountains that populated the Strip. The Turian pointed to the giant hole of sand and questioned the woman. " What is this place? You Humans don't just dig holes just to fill them with dirt again, or build giant buildings to leave them abandoned?"

She chuckled as she looked over the Turian's confused face. " No, this place was once a great gambling destination. Think of the Citadel, throw in a lot of gambling and entertainment, and this is what it was. The place closed down around the time we discovered the mass relays. Why gamble with Humans in a desert, when you can travel space and gamble while watching an Asari pole dancing?"

They settled on the railings that surrounded the empty pool, starring into the hills of sand that occupied the pool, when the Turian spoke. " This is a far shade from where I grew up."

Shepard perked up, as she found something to talk to the Turian about. " O yea, where was that?"

" Serrice, on Thessia," he replied, not risking a look at Shepard.

Shepard stole a look at him. She got a look into his life that most didn't, and revealing he had grown up in the heart of Asari space. It was rare for someone of another race to grow up on Thessia, even more rare for Turians. They held a phobia that the element zero rich planet would give them biotics as if it was a cancer.

 _If he grew up there, he must have biotics_ , she thought as she shot him the question just to make sure. " Since you grew up there, I bet you have some talents the need to remain unnamed?"

The sigh the Turian let out as he turned to look at Shepard is all she needed to know for her answer. Not wanting to hit another nerve with the Turian, she held off on asking about how he didn't bare family markings.

" Come on, lets get you back to your bed. Don't want your nurse coming to kill me," she said as she placed her hand on his back, breaking up his thoughts with her light touch.

As they walked back into the medical tent, they were met by a Vibos Vakarian talking to everyone and anyone who walked through the tent.

He turned to greet the new entrants to the tent. " Executor. Just the person I was looking for." He shifted into a parade rest position. " My son said you would be down here. I would like to extend an invitation for dinner."

After she settled Caeus back onto his bed, she turned toward the elder Vakarian and smiled. " I would be glad to. Just give me some time to finish with the Corporal."

He nodded in agreement. " I will be in the command tent when you're ready." He had bid both Shepard and Heldos a good day and exited the tent.

Shepard turned to Caeus, seeing him stare at her. " Well you must be more important than just a hero of the galaxy if the Councilor is inviting you to dinner." He shifted uncomfortably and looked back at Shepard. "It wouldn't happen to have something to do with his son would it?"

Her blushing was all he needed to know as he chuckled at her turning several shades darker. " That's what I thought," he said as he returned to his origami.

" How would you know what blushing is?" she questioned. " You Turians have issues reading our body language."

" I grew up on Thessia, remember? The Asari blush, but not the same color," he shot back.

Amazed on how he had gotten an Asari to blush, Shepard had to know how. " Wow, how did you even get an Asari, who are never embarrassed, to blush?"

The Turian chuckled. " Well, there's not much choice in the way of romantic options on Thessia, now is there?"

That got Shepard to blush again, drawing laughter from Caeus.

When he finally settled down, he turned back to her. " Thank you for stopping by, Commander. I would love to talk more...," he looked back up at her, " but you've got some heat to lose and a father to impress."

* * *

" Executor, I'm glad you could join me tonight," Vibos said as he pulled out a chair for Shepard.

" Wow, aren't you the gentleman," she said as she sat down in the chair.

" Well, some things are just universal," he replied as he uncomfortably took a seat in the human chair. " Sorry about the choice in food." he said motioning to the packets of military MREs.

Shepard chuckled at the mismatch of the manners from the Turian with a meal of MREs in a dusty abandoned building. " It's the life we choose to lead, Councilor."

Vibos nodded in agreement. " Well, our days of living like this are limited, at least for you for the time being. Life is going to be better once we get settled in the new council. Speaking of which, who is your race's councilor going to be?"

Shepard shrugged as she opened the silver packet that looked like the identical cardboard she had been eating for the past day at the camp. " We have no idea. The Alliance will vote on it, but at this point were lucky if we can do anything at all. We have to have everyone vote on it."

The Turian chuckled " So the joke about how many Humans does it take to activate a mass relay is true? I thought they were exaggerating a little too much."

Shepard released a loud laugh that could be heard through most of the hall, enough to attract the attention of the room, if it were populated. " So why is it that you treat me to MREs and talk business? I honestly thought you were doing this to keep me out of Garrus's fringe as he was to have dinner with his sister."

Vibos took bite and swallowed his unappetizing looking meal that looked just as gray as his plates. " Well, that was part of the reason. I wanted to have dinner to get to know the bond-mate of my son, talk business," he slightly paused to catch his breath and empathize his next words, " and keep you out of Garrus's fringe for a few hours."

Shepard set down her food and leaned forward, to empathize that he had her attention. " Well, lets talk business first."

The Turian bent over to retrieve a data pad and brought it to the table. " First, I must know if you decided to take the job offer from the Council."

Garrus and herself had discussed to job offers and decided to take them, even though the job of Executor was more suited to a C-SEC lifer than a Spectre who is the hero of the galaxy. In the end, they both decided to agree, if they could figure out why she was being offered the position of Executor.

" I would love to say yes, but I need to know why I am being offered the position in the first place. It's more of a position for you or Garrus than a Council Spectre."

Vibos tilted his head as he looked at her, deep in thought before regaining his composure. " Well, I guess if I tell you why, that's the only way we'll get you to accept." He handed the pad over and gave her time to look over it. " CON-SEC. We want to create a Council Security force that's sole purpose is to defend Councilors. The Executor position will be split between you and Commander Bailey. We feel that C-SEC is great for investigating and keeping the peace on the Citadel, but not for defense of Citadel Space's leaders."

Looking through the data-pad, she noted the reports on the Citadel invasion by Cerberus, Sovereign's Reaper forces, and the final Reaper invasion that killed the previous Council. " Where are most of these agents going to come from?" she asked as she looked up from the pad.

" The same way Spectres are chosen, through the best the militaries have to offer. We also want to reassign Spectres to CON-SEC, with you being the first and the leader of the organization."

Shepard swapped the data-pad for the ration she had opened before. " I like the idea, but is it purely defense, or a Spectre-like organization that could theoretically silence dissenters of the council?"

Vibos shook his head at the question. " Not at all. You cannot be ordered to take missions, only defend the Council."

The response helped put her at ease. She was tired of the obscure targets and missions that she had heard of from her time in the Spectres, and didn't wish to become a terror to the people that she was supposed to help.

Shelve a warm smile to Vibos and stopped eating into her meal. " Well, Councilor. I think you found your Executor."

Vibos leaned back in his chair and widened his mandibles in a smile of his own. " Good. Now that we got the painful stuff out of the way, I want to get to know you better if your going to be calling me Father soon. So, tell me about Commander Laura Shepard, hero of the galaxy…"


	12. Dinner

**Author's Notes** \- Hey guys! Back at it. I've noticed that not a lot of people actually tell me how they feel about the story. Pleaaaasssseee, I want to know what you think so far. Even if you have questions, ask them as a review or PM. As always, like, review, or favorite the story as well if you like it. It goes a long way when I see that number go up!

Chapter 12

Dinner

Garrus stood in the lobby of the hotel, waiting for his sister to finish her shift in the camp, against a wall of old gambling machines.

Garrus opened his omni-tool eyeing the chronometer and groaned over how long Solana was taking. If it was any longer, they may as well throw getting to Barcelona on time out the window.

Passing the few minutes he was waiting was easy, He sent it fiddling with the old slot machines or answering messages over advising matters, and coordinating with his Father's staff and the Primarch's office.

When she finally came through the huge entrance, Garrus could tell that she was drained. Her mandibles were drooping that showed a tired and beat field medic. Her trousers were stained a slight purple, undoubtedly from Turian blood.

As she slowly walked towards him, Garrus unfolded his arms and approached, " Tough day?"

She looked up and gave a grunt in acknowledgment. " Today may have been rough, but no one died on my shift." She shrugged as she reached her brother. " That's all I could ask for."

Garrus huffed. " That's true. It's better to have a bad day that'll be forgotten, and save them all, being remembered forever."

" Spoken as if you like being the hero," she jutted at him.

" No, I like being the thankless hero that is remembered by all they touch, not the hero that has to have a statue for them to be remembered." He paused, " Shepard is the same way. We both scoff at the fact that there will undoubtedly be statues of us and buildings named after us. Even then, we aren't even the real heroes." He embraced Solana, holding her hands in a comforting manner. " It's soldiers like you and everyone else in the camp. You all sacrificed, only to make us out to be heroes."

She withdrew her hands and sighed. " Give me a few minutes. I want to get out of these stained clothes. I'll meet you in 15 minutes?"

Garrus gave an inaudible grunt in response. He was not a patient person, and his time at C-SEC reflected that. His time working under a Spectre hasn't helped his patience, but he had to at least start to learn for his advisor position. _Well, at least it gives me more time to do paperwork,_ he thought as he nodded. "Sure."

* * *

Sitting at the table, waiting for Solana while reading the unending pile of messages was killing him. It wasn't helped by being stared at from the banks of Turian officers that undoubtedly knew who he was. Time would pass faster if he could people watch, but that was not an option as he was the one being watched.

Doing a quick scan around the room, he could see every woman staring at him, undoubtedly for sinful purposes, while every man gazed, looking to know the Turian savior of the galaxy.

He was grateful when Solana appeared in a clean uniform. It finally gave him something else to fret about, instead of the hawk eyes coming from all corners of the room.

The tall Turian lifted himself out of his seat as Solana approached. She stood rigid as she gave a salute. " Advisor."

Garrus quickly embraced her, while she was still saluting, and joined their foreheads as he whispered to her. " Solana, that's not necessary. You're my sister, not a subordinate."

She started to keen, but successfully stifled it in the presence of everyone in the room. She took a few seconds to regain her composure before choking out, " Sorry, force of habit."

They ended their embrace and Garrus motioned Solana toward his table. " I'll get us food. You must be starving after your shift."

Knowing Solana, she would attempt to put up a fight, so he quickly settled her in before she would protest. Any fight in her would be taken care of from her lack of energy to expel from getting up. " Fine. I have no energy to fight you on this," she said angrily as she hung her head in defeat.

It got Garrus to laugh as he thought back to what he found out the hard way when he started his relationship with Shepard, _Some things are the same, even across species_.

As he stared at the table of food, he thought of how to play it. He hadn't thought this far forward on what he was going to say.

The food on the table didn't help him either. Every plate was mostly vegetables from the Quartan liveships, with meat from Turian rations to satisfy a need of protein for Turians. The dull grey and browns in every dish didn't inspire any attractive words, and looked unappetizing, compared to the multitude of colors from Turian food. _Damn, I now know what Shepard goes through when we feed her Asari rations._

After looking over all the plate, he begrudgingly grabbed two trays with the most meat he could find. _This will have to do._

As he returned with the trays, his sister sighed when she saw the colorful selection. " Well, at least it's edible."

Garrus gave a huff as he sat down. " That's one way to look at it." He brandished his talons and watched Solana do the same.

In his entire time on the Normandy, he hadn't been able to eat with the crew unless he had hard-to-use utensils, for fear of freaking out the crew when he took the gloves off. It was a social stigma to show your talons in the presence of other species, for fear of looking like uncivilized monsters. The only person he showed his talons to was Shepard, and only in her cabin.

He was glad to finally use them for one of their intended purposes. He looked up to see Sol was staring at him, her green eyes piercing him, cutting him in half with her gaze, instead of getting ready to eat herself.

He put his talons down, bracing himself for more talking than eating. " Sol, I'm sorry. I should have been there," he said as he dropped his head to hide from his sister's glares for what he was going to say next. " We can talk and eat at the same time, but you know the threat we were facing. I was needed to help win this war, and that required me to be away."

She snapped at him. " Even if it means leaving our dying mother to die without her only son by her side." She jabbed one of her talons at him. " She was disappointed, but she understood you. I don't know why." She paused to catch her breath from the quick speech. " After I sent you my first message, you should've been on the first transport to Palaven, but what I got was no response. I had to find out through Father that you were alive, but more focused on stopping Collectors, and had no time to even say hello or let me know you were alive." She finished to give him some time to respond on all the actions she had laid out. A slight keen escaped her, but she quickly picked up some food and chewed with her teeth to help control the whimpering.

He reminisced over his time fighting with Cerberus. He was blinded by the rage of Sidonis's betrayal and the Collectors to not send a message to his family. He had spent all of his time finding Sidonis and preparing for the Collectors. He didn't even tell Shepard, it would've pushed her to take him off the mission and send him to Palaven for fear of him being pushed over the edge, if Sidonis wasn't enough.

Garrus remained silent to allow Solana to tell all of her grievances, leading to an awkward silence as he stared at her starting to lose control. She tried to control her emotions through shoving more and more of the unappetizing food into her mouth, even if she was unsuccessful.

Garrus finally reached across the table, and grasped her talons, to get her to finally stop and let all of her pain and grief show itself. " It would be better if we went somewhere else, maybe sparring or your room," he whispered to her as he motioned for her to get up. _It would be better for her to be able to let it all out and beat the shit out of me if she must._

She finally controlled herself as she got up and sighed, " Yea, lets spar." She motioned to her prosthetic. " I need to test out the new leg, and I can beat on you as we talk, because we both know you won't go 100% on me, and it's going to piss me off if you don't."

Garrus smirked in amusement. " And how do you know I won't?"

She turned around to face Garrus, stopping Garrus as they left the mess area. " Because I know you will think of it as part of your punishment, but you can't let everyone see you lose to an amputee. So you better give it your all." She lifted a talon and pushed it into Garrus's keel, " or I will kill you."

* * *

It took them some time to find the room that was set up for sparring. It took them multiple queries to find the correct room.

They found he correct room, a dimly lit theatre with a stage lit by portable lights. The rest of the room was dark, due in part to the presence of non-working lights and general lack of energy to power them.

They walked down the rows of red seats, dirtied by the years of negligence, disrepair, and sand that was found seeping everywhere into the building, to reach the sign-up for use of the ring on the stage.

They idly waited their turn, wanting to air all of their grievances in the fight rather than make a scene with a pissing match surrounded by spectators.

When they were up, Garrus removed his tunic in customary Turian fashion, while opting to keep his trousers out of habit from his time sparring on the Normandy. It earned him some mystified looks from the crowd. Even Solana looked confused as to why he didn't shed his trousers. " Why do you still have your trousers on? Did the other species get to you? "

" Well, yes. The others on the Normandy don't take well to open nudeness, but it shouldn't be a problem for me. I had special trousers made that the fabric stretches and shrinks with my movement. It's just as if I was nude."

Solan gave a slight grumble over Garrus's conformity to other species. " I didn't know there was such a thing. It must be some top secret tech we don't know about yet."

" Well, when you work with Shepard, you have a lot of resources to help."

At the mention of Shepard, Solana gave a groan as she removed her trousers, revealing the toned figure of a female Turian that belonged in a front combat unit, or even the Blackwatch, with the exception being below her left knee being replaced with a fully functional prothetic.

A crowd started to gather in the viewing area below, interested in both the sparring session, and Solana.

" Are you sure you should be be sparring?" Garrus asked as he examined Solana's leg.

" I'll be fine. Stop making excuses to back out, brother," She scowled as she got in a ready position, bending her legs and holding her talons in front of her in a fighting position.

Garrus sighed as he parted his legs in a fighting stance on the other side of the designated sparring area.

They both circled each other while swiping, and attempting to grab each other, to probe for weaknesses. The silence between them was only penetrated by the soft hum the the portable lights and murmurs from the onlooking Turians.

Garrus felt that he should put up some fight, but let Solana get the upper hand, only to beat her after she gave everything she had in an emotion fueled fight.

Garrus held his stance, but allowed Solana to grab him as he moved his hand too slowly to evade. She pulled him forward, placing him on her back and lifted her back, letting gravity do the work. As Garrus landed on his back, she turned around and placed herself on top of him, pinning him under the weight of her body.

Garrus had to struggle to continue with the match. If he stopped fighting, the match would be called as a win for Solana. She moved her face close to Garrus's and spoke in a low angry tone. " Why did you leave us? Was it purely for your fuck buddy of a Human?"

Struggling to gather breath, he choked out, " No, it was to fight the Reapers. You know them right? The bastards that took your leg and mate?"

The mention of her mate drew a low subharmonic growl and her to lower her body more, choking Garrus even more. " How do you even know about that? It must have been Father, right?"

Garrus spotted an opening as she moved her face too close to his. He extended his arm, under her head, and flipped over, taking Solana with him. He placed his forearm into her neck, replicating what she had done, but kept his face far enough away. " Yes, I just found out. You know I could only get small messages out. The network was overtaxed with military communications. I couldn't talk, or find out any information on either of you. Hell, I found out you guys were alive not from Father, but from the Primarch, when he asked me to be Dad's advisor. "

" It doesn't change how _Mater_ died without both of her children, or how you did nothing to help, " she shot back as she continued to struggle against him.

Solana's insistence that he didn't care rubbed him the wrong way, and what better way to change tune than tell her all the things he did do behind the scene.

" O yea? How do you think she was able to get into the treatment facility on Ser'Kesh? It sure as hell wasn't on goodwill. When I enquired, they were filled to capacity. I was only able to get her in by pulling strings and sending Collector tissue and tech. I couldn't come back. The threat to everyone was too great for personal issues to get in the way." Garrus started to let his emotions to get the better of him as he let his guard down to allow Solana a chance. She took the advantage by gripping his head and kicking him over her and swiped at his face, her talons grazing his faceplates.

She locked his head between her legs and pulled on his extended arm. She started shouting loud enough for the onlooking spectators to hear. " AND YOU THINK THIS REDEEMS YOURSELF FOR NOT BEING THERE?!"

 _Well this hasn't gone completely as planned_ , he thought as the darkness started to approach from him being choked.

He struggled to fight off his sister, but could only do the one thing that came to his mind. He freed his arms and started to abuse her prothetic. As he twisted and messed with the extension, he choked back. " NO, BUT I HELPED AS MUCH AS I COULD! YOU KNOW HOW THE TURIAN MILITARY WORKS, AND THIS IS NO DIFFERENT!"

The twisting of her prothetic finally paid off with her breaking her grip, finally leaving him with a chance to breath. As he gathered breath, he looked over to see Solana struggling to regain her stance. He stood up and approached his sister as she struggled to recover, her prothetic giving her trouble as she stood up. He locked his arms around her neck and fell over on his back, pulling her to the floor on her back. Garrus whispered as Solana started to choke and stop fighting from exhaustion. " Looks like you aren't quite there yet, sister. I did everything I could. Do you think I would've rather been by _Mater's_ side or fighting?"

Solana continued to choke and tapped her talons on the floor to signal a tap out, a loss for her. As she rose and went to collect her clothes, Garrus continued, " Do you imagine how hard it has been for me, not knowing if you and Father were alive, or not being there as she died, I could only hope she had a peaceful passing, but I won't know, because I wasn't there."

Garrus started to keen in the middle of the sparring square, drawing confused murmurs from the spectators. Solana turned around at the keening and approached him. She grabbed his limp talons and held them. She looked up into his face, letting her mandibles slack. " She did go peacefully." She started to choke as she reached up and pushed Garrus's forehead to hers. " She wanted you to know that she loved you and also to " Give them hell," I don't know what that means, but she wanted you to know."

Garrus chuckled at his mother's use of Human idioms. The last time he saw her was before he left for Spectre training after leaving the Normandy. He taught her some idioms and other snippets he learned from the crew, but mostly Shepard's use of idioms and jokes, because when he found out what they meant, he couldn't help but admire her creativity and humor.

His reminiscing on his last visit was broken by Solana, giving a quizzical expression. " So what does it mean?"

His mandibles widened in a smile. " Basically, it means give it everything you have and make your enemies suffer. Something that all Turians in the Hierarchy follow, as you know."

She snorted as she turned to retrieve her clothes. Garrus sped over to his side and picked up his tunic, putting it on with the same haste.

He waited for Solana to finish dressing down from the stage and was met by congratulations from the other Turians that were watching their match.

She limped down, still showing the effects of the prosthetic, both from general use and their sparring session. She looked up as she approached. " Look, I'm sorry about being angry over _Mater's_ death, but I'm still mad over you not being in contact." She sighed, " Plus there's the issue of your potential mate. Has it happened?"

Garrus looked at her, surprised that she knew it was more than a fling. " Yes, I've gone into _Amans_ if that's what you're asking. But, how do you know?"

She gave a sly smile. " Do you think you're the only one Dad talks to?"

They walked up to their rooms and talked of everything they both had missed, excluding Solana's mate's death. Garrus's travels, Solana's attempts at becoming Blackwatch were huge points of their discussion until they made it to their rooms.

As they reached his door, he turned to Solana to tell her goodnight. She was wringing her hands together. " Look, no matter what I said earlier today, I hope you're happy. I also hope that we can get over our issues, as I have a huge part to play in your mating ceremony. Believe it or not, I''m actually excited about it."

" Of course, and you should be excited, even if it's because of unfortunate circumstances." He moved closer and touched foreheads with her, showing his affection. " I love you, Sol."

" I love you too, Gar. You better get going. You got somewhere to be."

Garrus watched Solana walk away, but could only think of how glad he was to finally be able to make it back to Shepard. His plates had been itching from the amount of time he had been away from her. He needed to know if she was safe and wanted to hear of her exploits for the few hours he was gone.

He was delighted to open the door to find her laying on the bed, with data pad in hand.

She set the pad down and got up to greet him at the sound of the door opening. " Hey big guy. How was dinner with your sister?"

" We ended up sparring, and I got new scars to show for it. I hope you like them," he said as he motioned to markings on his plates from Solana's scratching. "Otherwise, better than I thought. Worse than I hoped, but we'll get there," he said, while nodding.

She embraced him. " I love your scars and good. Maybe you both can pick up in Barcelona when she's on leave." She left his embrace and moved to pick up the bag in the corner of their room. " But, we gotta get going. Your father filled me in on my new job, and we can talk all about it on the way to Spain."

As they walked to the on-waiting Kodiak, Shepard looked down at the pinging of her omni-tool, notifying her of a new message. As they took their seats, she opened the message.

She frowned as the sender was unknown, and there was only one person she knew who would send an unknown sender message to her omni-tool.

* * *

 _Shepard,_

 _Need to meet in Barcelona, preferably before you start your job and get settled in. I'll be waiting._

 _SB_

* * *

She showed the glowing screen to Garrus and retracted when he gave a nod. She leaned back and pulled out the data pad she was reading, settling in for the long flight to their new life.


	13. Homefront

**Author's Notes** \- So here we are, totally not almost a week behind. I'm so sorry for being late. I actually think I underestimated the lack of motivation the summer months provide, so for that, I will be changing the upload policy again. Until the college semester starts again, I will be doing a upload schedule where if the chapter's done, it'll get uploaded. No set schedule until late August. Thank you all, and I hope you understand. As always, please provide a review and give a follow or favorite too!

Chapter 13

Homefront

 _Login_

 _Enter Alliance Security Protocol_

 _Atlas_

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _Alliance login accepted_

 _Enabling Torent Level Encryption_

 _Welcome to Alliance Extranet Program_

 _Admiral S. Hackett. Send queries now._

 _Open Communication Channel to Alliance Transport Authority_

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _Done. Start message now._

 _Send updates on Kodiak 1796's location. If diverted off course or disappears for more than 5 minutes, alert me._

 _._

 _._

 _._

 _Response Received._

 _Copy Admiral. Any changes of flight path for more than 5 minutes will be reported. ATA out._

* * *

 _Goddess._

The young Asari frowned as she watched the messaging transpire on the screen in front of her.

It pushed her time table even further. There was no way she should contact Shepard again. It may spook her. Hell, the message she sent before shouldn't be so cryptic that Shepard would already be spooked.

 _Well, at least I thought ahead to actually have someone I trust to pilot her_ , she thought as she opened her omni-tool to begin her message to the pilot.

She needed to get Shepard long enough to talk to her, and she wasn't sure if 5 minutes was enough, but she had to make it work. All she had to do was introduce the threat they were facing to Shepard. Everything else could wait for later.

* * *

The trip to Barcelona took a miserable and tight 10 hours. Garrus had it worse with his large frame fitting in a Human transport. He looked on as Shepard got up and walk around to stretch, groaning every time he tried to stretch out, only to be stopped by the metal walls encasing them. The trip wasn't helped by the cryptic pilot that wouldn't talk when they both tried to strike up a conversation, more interested in checking his screens and omni-tool. At least they had paperwork and reading to prepare them for their new positions.

Shepard finally put down her data pad and nudged the sleeping form of Garrus when she could see land appear on the holo screens on the side of the shuttle.

She punched the open button, and the door responded by sliding open, revealing a broken city in the distance.

Like all cities, Barcelona was destroyed by the attacks from the Reapers. A Reaper corpse could be seen hanging from the city into the coastal waters. The scars of the city were as pronounced as London's, or San Diego's.

" Shit. This was a beautiful city." Shepard said as she looked out over the broken landscape. " It will be rebuilt, better than it ever was." She turned back to Garrus and smiled. " Just give it time."

Garrus had no idea how to comfort her, so he stood silently staring at her look over the view from their Kodiak, speeding over the streets and low buildings. It pained him to see any place like this, but looking at the destruction reminded him of Palaven, and how him and every other Turian on Earth knew nothing of what became of their home planet.

She finally noticed his silence, looking over him expression, taking in his silence as if she knew what he was thinking of. " You'll get back there. You'll see Palaven again," she said as she walked toward him, grasping his hands.

The moment was interrupted by the sudden noise of the door closing, grabbing the attention of Shepard and Garrus. Neither of them had shut the door, and the only other person who could do it was the pilot, and the closure of the door meant they were going into stealth mode.

She walked to the cockpit, looking to figure out why they had gone into stealth mode while flying over, perhaps, the most protected city on Earth.

She got to the front and tapped the pilot on the shoulder. She couldn't see his face through the dark tint of the pilot's flying helmet, making it hard to identify the features of his face. " You mind telling me why you shut the door, lieutenant?" she said as she spied the bars on his Alliance uniform.

The pilot pressed a few buttons, working with great precision that she hadn't seen since her time on the _Normandy_ , and set the shuttle on auto-pilot as he turned around. Shepard could see herself in the dark glass of his helmet. He felt for the side of his helmet and pressed a button, revealing the face underneath the helmet.

" Sorry, Executor. We needed to go to stealth mode to get you for a few minutes without any suspicion, " said the pilot.

Shepard smiled at the realization of who was piloting. " And you couldn't reveal yourself when we had gotten on, Steve? "

He turned back around, taking back the controls of the shuttle as they moved closer to their landing zone. " Nah, that would've ruined the surprise, and it would've raised suspicions even more than you going dark for a few minutes."

" Well, Cortez. Mind telling me why we are in stealth mode to begin with?" She said as Garrus finally reached the cockpit at the mention of Lt. Cortez.

The inertia dampeners did their best to hide the Kodiak's downward movement, but they didn't fool anyone in the shuttle. " I don't know, but I'm sure our friendly neighborhood Shadow Broker will tell you," he said as he motioned for them to head back to the exits.

While they moved back to the exits, Shepard turned and shouted at the pilot. " It was nice seeing you again, Steve. I hope you shoot me a message sometime when you get some leave. Hang out, just like old times.

They could hear hearty chuckling from the pilot's chair. " I'll be sure to take you up on that offer. Also, I'm Lieutenant Jordan Morris, Commander. I don't know a Lieutenant Steve Cortez. We have to keep suspicions on the DL."

They felt the shuttle lower down to ground level and the doors opened to reveal Liara waiting for them, working on a data pad, undoubtedly working on maintaining the Shadow Broker's network. Shepard jumped down, her balance almost failing her as she landed on the ground. She was only saved from the out stretched Turian who steadied her as he landed more gracefully. She turned and nodded in thanks.

Liara approached and embraced Shepard. "Shepard, thank the Goddess. I need to talk to you quickly. We only have a few minutes before they get suspicious."

" Before who gets suspicious?" she asked quizingly.

The Asari backed from the embrace and started to nervously pace in front of them. " I don't know exactly, but I believe Hackett may be one of them."

Knowing Liara, she would have at least some form of proof. She is the Shadow Broker and may have come across some information that would be pretty damning.

" I hope you have some evidence to present," Shepard said as she crossed her arms.

The Asari cocked her hips in confidence. " You think the Shadow Broker would show up without accurate information?" She didn't let Shepard respond. " We don't have enough time for it all to be laid out right now. Hackett has you under his watch and if you aren't back on path in," she looked at her chrono, " three minutes, He's going to know something is wrong. In the meantime, take this clean omni-tool. Both of you." She held out two omni-tool bands, prompting them to take them. " They are clean. Don't let anyone know you have them please?" She motioned to the cockpit, to Cortez, telling him to get ready for liftoff. " I'll message you again, and both of us will lay out what we have."

Shepard wanted to ask who Liara meant by both, but they didn't have the time as she was quickly Shepherded into the shuttle for the remaining trip to the Council compound.

As the door shut and the lift of the Kodiak could be felt from the inside, Shepard approached Cortez in the cockpit.

Garrus retook his place, answering messages. It would be best to let Shepard at least handle it and bring him in later on what Liara so urgently needed.

Shepard leaned on the pilot's chair, drawing Steve's attention by using his alias. " Morris, she leave you any other instructions for me?"

Cortez looked up from the console, opening his omni-tool, losing at the message Liara had just sent him. " Yea. She says that there is an information drive at your new apartment. You'll know where to look. "

" That' a puzzle if I've ever known one."

* * *

Shepard was glad to finally leave the cramped Kodiak behind for the warm weather of the city.

As they left the shuttle, Shepard stole a glance at Garrus. She watched him smile, giving approval of the weather. She chuckled " Better than London, right?"

" If I wasn't wearing my armor, the cold rain would've killed me before the Reapers," he joked. " But, I'm glad where we're staying is going to have at least cool weather."

" This is actually warm," she said as she approached the keypad to the new apartment that the Council supplied her. She turned to face Garrus, patiently waiting with their bags in hand. " You ready to start our new lives?"

She earned a slight chuckle from him. He moved in closer, becoming plush with her, before he reached around her and pressed the open button.

She could feel his rough, battle-hardened plates through his tunic. She just wanted to lay her head on his chest and stay there forever, but at least they had tonight, at least after they checked the apartment and Liara's information.

She opened her bag and pulled out the visor Garrus had gotten her, placing it on her head. The glass pane over her left eye flicked with a blue tint as it booted up. She looked over to see Garrus doing the same with his. She turned on the surveillance monitoring program, and gave a slow scan of the front room as she walked in.

Garrus decided to take the upstairs while she swept the lower level, comprised of a neat, but small kitchen and an impressive living room. As she finished, she opened the shutters that hid the view of the city from the living room.

The high rise apartment had a spectacular view of the old city. Her visor had to compensate for the penetrating sunlight that entered the room.

Her concentration on the view was broken by the booming footsteps coming down the stairs. " If it was hotter and Turian architecture, it would be just like Cipritine, Garrus said as he leaned on the railing. " The second floor is clean. Same down here?"

Shepard gave a slight nod in reply. " Yea, it's beautiful. We'll have to go to Cipritine sometimes. Possibly for the bonding or marriage?"

He strolled over to her and embraced her, grabbing her hips and moving plush with her as he nuzzled her neck. " You'll love it. We just have to get back there first."

Suddenly, Shepard remembered Liara's package. She had to look around to find what the Asari was talking about, and possibly get to the bottom of what the hell warranted taking her off the grid.

She turned around, still embraced, and looked up to the Turian. " Garrus, We got to search for the stuff Liara left behind. She said, " I'll know where to look." Do you have any idea?"

The giant Turian shifted his weight, loosening his embrace as he looked around the apartment. " Well, we searched her apartment in Nos Astra. Maybe she hid it in something similar." He pointed to a display case housing small artifacts. " Possibly there?"

She broke into stride to look at the case, lamenting how she had just glanced over the case, not noticing the contents. " What the hell is in there? "

When she finally was able to make out the contents of the case, she spun around. " I'm assuming this is your doing?"

Garrus finally approached to see what she was talking about. He noticed the tiny model ships in the case. Her entire collection was taken from the _Normandy_ and placed in their new home. " No. It must have been the Alliance." Garrus truly hadn't given their possessions on the _Normandy_ a thought until that moment. He was more focused on the health of Shepard and himself. The prefab work for his advisor position also was a burden. It was basically starting from the bottom, as everything in place before had been destroyed in the war.

" Well, she left a disk in a display case in Nos Astra. She could've done the same here," she said as she felt around the case until she felt and pushed a small button, revealing a small disk, undoubtedly holding the information needed.

She retrieved the disk, and inserted it into the omni-tool Liara gave her, not risking the terminal on the desk for fear of tampering.

The omni-tool glowed to life, revealing multiple files. Her mission reports from Mahavid, Namakli, and Despoina, research on indoctrination, and a video message from Liara herself were all present.

As she loaded the video, she muttered to herself. " What did you want with this, Liara?"

She gained Garrus's attention as his superior hearing picked up her question. He took position behind her, not touching her to break her concentration on the information. He just looked over her shoulder to take in what Liara had to say.

The static faded out to reveal Liara in a dimly lit room, giving off the Shadow Broker persona. " Shepard, you must be watching this if I didn't have enough time." The Asari clasped her hands together, to stop her from fidgeting. " In that case, I will have gone deeper than I'm used to. Don't talk to anyone who says they are working on my behalf, and don't expect direct contact for some time."

" But, why?"

Shepard paused and turned to Garrus. " Maybe she is compromised for planting the disk, or for diverting our shuttle." She became wide-eyed when she put the puzzle together. " She thinks more than one person in the Alliance is compromised. The apartment even if it was given to us by the Council, the Alliance provided it to them. Our shuttle was also Alliance. It isn't that hard to keep tabs on us. It would just take many people."

" But, who in the Alliance?"

She turned background to make herself comfortable. " Maybe she'll tell us?" she said motioning to the still of Liara on her omni-tool.

She pressed the play button, unfreezing Liara. " A month after the firing of the Crucible, someone in the Alliance approached the Broker asking for all information I had on the Leviathan and indoctrination." She adjusted the small drone recording her. " I backtracked it to Hackett, but I gave him what I had. I don't know what he wants with it, but it can't be good. With the slow progress being made on everything that except Human, were all stuck on Earth with the leaders of the most powerful races in the galaxy, and one of the highest ranking Alliance members are asking me for information on indoctrination powers, I would say more than one person in the Alliance are trying a power play to control or take out every other race."

 _I can't believe this_ , Shepard thought. Not only was the job of the savior of the galaxy over, but the Alliance was the enemy for once. There was no way she could support the controlling or genocide of other races, even if it was from her own species. After all the progress Humanity had made in the past 50 years, it was all going to be ruined by killing good people, who can help us, not only in peace, but in time of war. The fight against the Reapers showed that.

 _Spirits._ Garrus didn't know what to think of what Liara said. He had no doubt that Shepard opposed the idea of Humanity looking to commit mass genocide or slavery. She wasn't one to support Human dominance and, hell, he sometimes thought that she preferred other races based on their actions and views to her own.

She finally broke the silence. " This brings a whole new meaning to an inter-species, awkwardness thing."

" Always looking to make a joke. I will applaud you for making a good one though," he responded as he chuckled, trying to make the situation as normal as he could.

She shifted, trying to move closer, and make Garrus know where she stood. " I hope I don't have to tell you where I stand on this."

" No, I know how you think, and I'm glad I know you that well," he motioned around the room, " or this room would be a lot more messy."

" Good. Now there is nothing we can do but dig into this on our own. We have nothing but a rogue Admiral with high pull in the Alliance. He had access to my mission reports, and research, Alliance and otherwise. What Liara told us is worrying, so we need to play dumb to make sure we don't give away Liara or ourselves," she said as she copied the files to Garrus's tool. " It's time for me to brush up on my missions."

There was one person the came to Garrus's mind who they could tell, and he was now glad that he had pull in the Hierarchy. " I think we should bring my father in on this. He was there for the Reaper threat, It would be no different now."

Shepard paused, taking stock in the words areas spoke. They rang true, but Reapers is different from the military organization that controls the planet they currently reside on. In the end though, a former detective, who was now one of the most powerful people in galactic politics would help. " Yes, that's a good idea."

She shifted over to the couch before she spoke again. " It's going to be a long first day."

" Tell me about it." he said as he reached for his omni-tool. " and here I thought we were going to be relieving stress tonight."


End file.
